In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

By Sigeki Ogino

To put it bluntly, it was Pasolini and Nagisa Oshima who elevated pornography to an art form. "Ai no Corrida" is a film based on the crazy scandal of a Japanese woman, Sada Abe, who was obsessed with sex. The film is a masterful depiction of sex, and in the uncensored version, viewers will be surprised to find that the sex acts in the film are no different from those in pornographic videos. Some may be put off by the scenes of pubic hair, semen, and lewd displays of genitalia, male and female. However, it is questionable to dismiss the film's unusual artistry on that basis alone. No one can fail to notice that the sex scenes depicted in "Ai no Corrida" are ten thousand times better than those in the erotic "Species". Nagisa Oshima is by far a more aesthetically pleasing director than Akira Kurosawa, and he could have made any number of films that ordinary people would enjoy watching. His talent is unwavering, and this sex-documentary style masterpiece is unique in Asia.