ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

Banmei Takahashi, who, as Sam Panico wrote in his review of the director’s Door for this site,“has a career filled with movies that infuse sex and violence.” I think Door is a terrific thriller, and although Takahashi’s Door II: Tokyo Diary is a sequel in name only (supposedly executives wanted him to change the film’s title after Door found some financial success) and by no means a thriller or horror film, it does serve up plenty of the director’s two aforementioned calling cards. 

There’s no stalker after a housewife here, and no returning characters from Door. Instead, we follow some days in the life of Ai (Chikako Aoyama in an outstanding lead performance), whose name means “love.” She’s a call girl who works on her own, which a madam (Keiko Takahashi) warns her about in a threatening manner. Ai falls for one of her johns, an art dealer (Joe Yamanaka), which leads to certain emotional adventures. There’s plenty of self-reflecting going on in Ai’s mind throughout Door II: Tokyo Diary, which leads to, in my opinion, the film’s two strongest set pieces: a violent encounter with a sadistic john that should have even the most hardened of fear-fare fans feeling squeamish, and a climactic, jaw-dropping speech at the wedding of two mutual friends.

Door II: Tokyo Diary is a highly offbeat drama with some dark overtones, plenty of R-rated–style sexual encounters including a variety of kinks, lots of existential musing about life along with doors and what happens to men once they get behind them, and some poignant musing. Is Ai an empowered young woman or an exploited one? Takahashi’s nicely directed, wonderfully choreographed, and well acted food-for-thought softcore-style drama will have viewers pondering that question.

Door II: Tokyo Diary is available as a bonus feature on the Blu-ray release of Door from Third Window Films as part of its Director’s Company Collection.