Runtime:
103 minutes (at least that's the version that Criterion released)
Directed
by: Nagisa Oshima
Starring:
Tatsua Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Aoi Nakajima, Yasuko Matsui
From:
Argos Films
From
one NC-17 rated movie to another that years after it got released got
the rating... I mainly picked this out not just because I remember
hearing about it years ago and never tried to track it down, but
because the director Oshima passed away just a few days ago, and this
is his most (in)famous work. After all, this is a film where it had
to involve a French production company due to Japan's censorship laws
at the time, and in its original form it is STILL banned in the Land
of the Rising Sun.
Here's
the plot, copied and pasted from the IMDb: “Based
on a true story set in pre-war Japan, a man and one of his servants
begin a torrid affair. Their desire becomes a sexual obsession so
strong that to intensify their ardor, they forsake all, even life
itself.”
Wow,
this movie... I can't talk about all you get to see, as it's really
adult and graphic, to say the least. But, the first few minutes
contain a lesbian trying to force herself on another girl (Japan...),
a guy more than once forcing himself on a lady (Dammit, Japan!)
voyeurism, multiple shots of cock and balls, bush shots, an old guy
attempting to masturbate himself to get it up... and a catfight!
Personally, while the movie was fine overall, most of the interest
for me was waiting to see what outrageous thing would happen next,
and there are plenty of those moments. Oh, and you see a lot of
sex. I am not exaggerating either. What horny bastards! Sure, the movie is serious and it tries to present various themes about their increasingly obsessive relationship. But, it's easy to forget about that when the big elephant in the room is how explicit the film is and all of the sexual things that happen.
Like
I said, it's a true story, about a lady known as Sada Abe. There's
actually a page on Wikipedia all about her where you can read the
real-life tale of what happened with her and Mr. Ishida, including
what happened after the movie's story ended. A major thing happens at
the end and this incident was apparently a huge story in Japan at the
time.
I'll be back Monday night.
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