Nude at Heart(HKAFF 2021)

“Odoriko” is a Japanese name for exotic dancers. Though once popular, Japanese striptease theatre has gradually waned in popularity over the years, with only several theatres remaining in the country. The young “odorikos” are constantly on the move, performing at each theatre for only about ten days at a time. Filmed mostly in stark dressing rooms and hallways leading to half-empty theatres, director Yoichiro Okutani — with the help of acclaimed Hong Kong-born editor Mary Stephen, a long-time collaborator of Eric Rohmer’s — captures with compassion the women at work and their personal conversations, revealing these dancers as more than merely moving naked bodies.