A scene from Flower and Snake by Takashi Ishii<br /><br />---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Directed by Takashi Ishii<br />Produced by Kazuo Shimizu<br />Written by Takashi Ishii (screenplay)<br />Starring Aya Sugimoto<br />Music by Gorō Yasukawa<br />Edited by Yūji Murayama<br />Distributed by Toei<br />Release date: March 13, 2004 (Japan)<br />Running time: 115 minutes<br />Country: Japan<br />Language: Japanese<br /><br />---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Flower and Snake (花と蛇, Hana to hebi), released in 2004, is a Japanese film based on the 1974 movie Flower and Snake directed by Masaru Konuma and starring Naomi Tani. The earlier film, based on a novel by Oniroku Dan, was part of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno series. The 2004 version, directed by Takashi Ishii and starring Aya Sugimoto, has been described as marking a "watershed moment in the history of Japanese film censorship" with "some of the most extravagant scenes of sexual cruelty and graphic nudity to be passed off as mainstream entertainment in any part of the world."