Four directors have led the revival of the waning Japanese adult video industry, so-called “Pink Films,” since the end of the Nikkatsu Roman Porno era ended in the 1980s. One of these directors, Zeze Takahisa, has recently drawn attention as a major filmmaker as well. The title, ‘Four Heavenly Kings of Pink’, now sounds somewhat ironically positive and grandiose?a far cry from AV films failing dismally at the adult cinema box offices. This is, perhaps, due to greater emphasis on cinematic qualities over seedy eroticism. Takahisa’s non-AV work continues to focus on cinematic excellence, like his recent 4-hour, 38-minute [Heaven’s Story]. His latest work continues with the quality akin to another of his major films, Pandemic(2009). [Life Back Then] follows the journey of a spiritually wounded young man who attempts to recover as he works as an heir hunter, dealing with unclaimed inheritances against a backdrop of vanishing human relationships within modern society, in effect bringing life from death, a metaphor for his own life. (Shion YANG)