Films/DVD Asylum

Hey TAFKA Steve....

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Victor Khomenko

(i)

...got any excuse for "Exstasy of the Angels"?
I nominate it for the "Best Movie to Watch in Fast Forward" award. That is how I ended up seeing most of it. In that mode there is actually something happening there. And amazingly, in FF you can read the subs in pretty much real time.
Plus... the way they make love in that film... only in FF it makes any sense. To Zen for me, perhaps...
On a completely insignificant note - why would the two dumb US soldiers be shooting at the intruders standing up under the only light for few miles around?
And another question - a more serious one. I was under the impression that it was a complete no-no (illegal actually) in Japan to show pubic hairs - is that so? Is that just a made-up story (but I believe I read about it in some serious publication) and if no, then how did they manage that film?
Victor, the Tuesday from the Summer brigade... (a little bit of an inside joke here...)

Follow Ups:

Koji Wakamatsu and Eirin. TAFKA Steve 15:06:03 06/19/01 (3)
I haven't seen "Ecstacy of the Angels" (aka "Angelic Orgasm"). The director, Koji Wakamatsu, has made over 100 films and I've only seen one, the recently DVD'd "Go, Go, Second Time Virgin"--and one was enough for me (I don't want to make the same mistake of sending his films to my mother for viewing at her senior citzens' club). He, along with Seijun Suzuki ("Branded To Kill" and other avant-garde gangster films), are probably the most infamous and controversial directors of the Japanese "New Wave", with Wakamatsu specializing in mixing sex, sadism, psychosis, and politics. After "Angelic Orgasm" (1972), he left Japan and joined the Palestinian Liberation Front. But he returned and even directed some films for Japanese TV.
Eirin, the government censorship board of Japan, was founded in the '60's after Nikkatsu Studios produced "Black Snow" and the director was arrested and acquitted of obscenity charges. Eirin was charged with censoring any depiction of genitalia and pubic hair in films, but Nikkatsu kept pushing the limits, as did Wakamatsu, and enforcement was lax until Yamaguchi's "Love Hunter" (1973) broke the camel's back. Once again the director was arrested for obscenity and acquitted. Since Eirin has had numerous "black eyes" for losing these censorship trials (not to mention the influence of the Yakuza to get them dismissed), enforcement has been relaxed. In 1996, photos of genitalia were made legal if presented in an artistic and "non-erotic" context. In 1998, Ikeda's "The Key" was released as the first mainstream Japanese film with full frontal nudity. And in 2000, Dynavector released the DV-XRT1 cartridge with full frontal nudity.
So there, an essay my mother and your mother-in-law would be proud of.
- Thank you, that's a pretty good summary Victor Khomenko 16:05:09 06/19/01 (2)
  ***photos of genitalia were made legal if presented in an artistic and "non-erotic" context.
  Hmmmm, I like that... genitalia in a "non-erotic" context... just wondering what sort of context that would be?
  That misterious Eastern mind...
  - "The feather vs. the whole chicken analogy." TAFKA Steve 18:39:03 06/19/01 (1)
    Genitalia in a "non-erotic" context: three examples.
    If it is a picture of a doctor measuring muscle strength in a woman's vagina, it is medical and therefore "non-erotic."
    If it is a picture of a woman urinating on a dwarf wearing a leather mask and sporting a Superman tattoo, it is artistic and therefore "non-erotic."
    If it is a picture of a guy whacking off to a photo of Janet Reno, it is a tragedy and definitely "non-erotic."
    And a warning in case any women are contemplating visiting Japan in the summer: public display of female armpit hair is still taboo and is roughly equivalent to seeing a man walking around with one testicle exposed out of his briefs (an act which might qualify one to be a Senator from Massachusetts).
    - ROTFLMAO!! Thanks Steve, I needed that laugh! (nt) Victor Khomenko 19:04:29 06/19/01 (0)
      .
Re: Hey TAFKA Steve.... AudioHead 11:54:19 06/19/01 (0)
From what I�ve read in certain publications*, the Japanese have some
sort of hangup about the showing of pubic hair, whereas, any and all
violence goes completely uncensored. - AH
*Phantom Video(Formerly I think), now Video Search of Miami, which
specializes in foreign (non-USA) horror, sleaze, exploitation, cult, etc. films.

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