Is It That Sex Sounds Like Waterfalls To You?

Note: If subtitles aren’t available watch the Youtube version.

An erotic Japanese poem explores a young woman’s first thoughts about sex, accompanied by sensual imagery.

This is the debut film by photographer Lena C. Emery who has previously worked for the Wall Street Journal. She made the film for Nowness and says:

“The use of metaphors is very common in classical Japanese poetry, often assuming an intimate relationship between the human and the natural worlds, so I wanted to look there first – it seemed a felicitous way to represent a young woman’s curious first thoughts about sex: inquisitive and exploratory, connected to movement and to her own body as a living, elemental entity.”

The performer is Michiru Shin, a Japanese illustrator who works in the UK.

Length: 2:05
Director: Lena C. Emery
Year: 2015