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Lovers Are Wet
Movie

Lovers Are Wet

1973 • Unknown

Woke Score
3
out of 10

Plot

A young man named Katsu comes to a rural town by the sea, and begins to work as a movie reel carrier in a movie theater. Apparently this town is the hometown of Katsu, but no matter how many residents of the town ask, "Is it Katsu?" he just laughs. The wife of the cinema owner that has become involved with Katsu is interested in his past ...

Overall Series Review

The movie is a 1973 Japanese Nikkatsu Roman Porno film centered on Katsu, an impulsive, nihilistic drifter on the run who returns to his coastal hometown and refuses to acknowledge his past identity. He takes a job at the local cinema and begins a series of disruptive, complex erotic relationships, including an affair with the cinema owner's wife. The film operates as a bleak character study focused on the protagonists' rebellious behavior, carnal desires, and emotional struggles, all set against a melancholic seaside backdrop. The plot relies on the protagonist's self-imposed emotional distance and his willingness to transgress social norms. This is a work of exploitation-art cinema that foregrounds raw, often troubling, sexual and violent dynamics.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The casting is racially authentic to the Japanese setting. The narrative centers on Katsu’s individual psychological and criminal past, not on race, immutable characteristics, or intersectional power hierarchy as a source of conflict. The focus is on individual character merit and flaws.

Oikophobia3/10

The protagonist, Katsu, is an anti-hero whose nihilistic and rebellious behavior directly challenges the social fabric and decorum of his local hometown. This demonstrates a clear hostility toward his immediate home culture, but as a Japanese film, it does not engage with the defined critique of Western Civilization.

Feminism1/10

The film focuses heavily on male sexual opportunism and carnal desires, sometimes portraying women as objects or victims of highly aggressive male action. This subject matter is the direct antithesis of the modern 'Mary Sue' or 'Girl Boss' trope, and the narrative contains no anti-natalist or anti-male messaging characteristic of modern woke feminism.

LGBTQ+1/10

The core dramatic tension revolves entirely around traditional male-female relationships, including adultery, illicit desire, and sexual aggression. There is no presence of alternative sexual ideologies, deconstruction of the nuclear family as oppressive, or lecturing on gender theory.

Anti-Theism7/10

The central protagonist is characterized as nihilistic, disillusioned, and dedicated to satisfying his sexual appetites while actively seeking to cut himself off from his past. This focus on subjective, carnal desires and the rejection of social convention establishes a strong theme of moral relativism and a spiritual vacuum at the core of the film's worldview.