The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

SM DAIZENSHU - BEST OF SM is basically clips from a few "popular" pinku films (some I recognized, some I didn't...) that is put into the context of a "story" - by adding "book-end" sequences that turn the film clips into slightly more than just a compilation film.A young female projectionist watches some Nikkatsu pinku clips, and gets all hot-'n'-bothered doing so. One of the longer clips is from WIFE TO BE SACRIFICED (one of my favorite pinku films...), and I think in the opening sequences, one of the other films shown was NOBLE LADY: BOUND VASE. According to Tom Weisser's seminal volume on pinku films, Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films - the other films shown were the original FLOWER AND SNAKE (which I have yet to see), and DARK HAIR, VELVET SOUL - though I just watched that film a week ago and none of the clips appeared to be from that film. Anyway, after her private-screening and bit of sweaty self-touchy, her film reels grow a mind of their own, and lovingly wrap the projectionist in their embrace...SM DAIZENSHU: BEST OF SM would be worth a look to pinku-newbies to see clips from a few different films and see if this sort of material is to their liking. Unfortunately, the film-clips are more "spoilers" than "teases", as they are too long and are more like summaries of the films shown. I'll also say that the main reason I made it a priority to watch this one was because of the film-reel-rape scene that I had heard so much about at the end. Sadly - that scene is EXTREMELY over-hyped and doesn't even appear to be a rape-scene. It basically looks like the projectionist-girl falls asleep and then the film reels wrap around her body...that's it. Anyway, if you haven't seen any of the films that SM DAIZENSHU touches on and want to see some of the more notable scenes, or if you've never seen a pinku film and are curious as to their content, then this one is for you. If you plan on watching any of the films mentioned in their entirety, I'd suggest to just watch the films that way and save this entry for a rainy day...6/10