Bullfight of Love
This Sunday I'm sitting the level 3 Japanese Proficiency Test, and so in the interests of study, I decided to rent a Japanese film from the local video store. Browsing the foreign film section I came upon 'Ai no Corridor" ('Bullfight of Love' or as it's also known 'In the Realm of the Senses') and was immediately interested when I read Madonna's recommendation on the cover. 'I like it cause it's real' was her take. Well if Madonna likes it...When I saw it was rated R18 (and banned or heavily censored in many countries) I wondered if they would actually be speaking much Japanese. I've noticed that films with this rating are not heavy on dialogue but thought I would check it out anyway in the interest of cultural study. The guy behind the counter looked particularly interested in my choice of movie and told me that he would be finishing work in 3 hours. I said I hoped the weather would hold out.
Well, it was a jaw-dropper. Beautifully shot and lush in erotic detail, it's based on the true and legendary within Japan story of an ex-prostitute and an innkeeper who begin a passionate, obsessive affair and who end up desiring each other so much that they can hardly bear to be apart from each other (quite literally) for a moment. To the point where the couple stay coccooned in their room for days on end, and so incur the wrath of the maids who want to do the cleaning (uncleanliness being a sin in Japan) as well as the disdain of the neighbourhood hordes of gossiping geishas. The ending is pretty wow but I won't tell you what happens as that would be a spoiler. Let's just say that Michael Hutchence had nothing on those two.
The sex scenes are unsimulated and very explicit, and I'm not talking bare bums and nipple-pinching. It's veins and all, baby! This aspect to the film raised a few questions for me, such as why do we have such a strong boundary between 'sensible' films and pornography, and why don't more films portray sex more realistically? If it's OK for actors to really kiss onscreen, why not take it to the next level and have them really having sex? I guess the main problem might be convincing actors to go that far for their art. As well as that, is it really necessary to show all the sticky and messy bits to get the point across? Perhaps a simulation is enough? If we see a heaving mass of off-white cotton sheets we can usually get the picture of what's going on under the bedclothes. But in this movie the explicit nature of the love-making only adds to the story, rather than detracts from it, and the two principal actors are both charming and so convincing in their roles. By the way, the egg-laying scene is just superb.
Did my Japanese improve? Most definitely.
Well, it was a jaw-dropper. Beautifully shot and lush in erotic detail, it's based on the true and legendary within Japan story of an ex-prostitute and an innkeeper who begin a passionate, obsessive affair and who end up desiring each other so much that they can hardly bear to be apart from each other (quite literally) for a moment. To the point where the couple stay coccooned in their room for days on end, and so incur the wrath of the maids who want to do the cleaning (uncleanliness being a sin in Japan) as well as the disdain of the neighbourhood hordes of gossiping geishas. The ending is pretty wow but I won't tell you what happens as that would be a spoiler. Let's just say that Michael Hutchence had nothing on those two.
The sex scenes are unsimulated and very explicit, and I'm not talking bare bums and nipple-pinching. It's veins and all, baby! This aspect to the film raised a few questions for me, such as why do we have such a strong boundary between 'sensible' films and pornography, and why don't more films portray sex more realistically? If it's OK for actors to really kiss onscreen, why not take it to the next level and have them really having sex? I guess the main problem might be convincing actors to go that far for their art. As well as that, is it really necessary to show all the sticky and messy bits to get the point across? Perhaps a simulation is enough? If we see a heaving mass of off-white cotton sheets we can usually get the picture of what's going on under the bedclothes. But in this movie the explicit nature of the love-making only adds to the story, rather than detracts from it, and the two principal actors are both charming and so convincing in their roles. By the way, the egg-laying scene is just superb.
Did my Japanese improve? Most definitely.
