Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by TAFKA Steve (i) on June 19, 2001 at 15:06:03

In Reply to: Hey TAFKA Steve.... posted by Victor Khomenko on June 19, 2001 at 08:31:32:

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.