In the Realm of the Senses

1976 pornographic art

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Sex, more sex, and then what sex generally leads to.

I nailed that plot summary. One could accuse Nagisa Oshima of including too many sex scenes in this movie. As a matter of fact, I was a little embarrassed watching this in the same room as my wife who was not interested in the least and accused me of having ulterior motives with this selection because every single time she looked up, Eiko Matsuda and Tatsuya Fuji were trying out yet another position. She could have looked up every thirty seconds and would have seen those two gettin' it on in some fashion. That, or inserting eggs into orifices or choking each other or watching as one or the other  a third person.

"This movie," I explained, "is one of the 1,000 greatest movies of all time according to the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They list. I pretty much have to watch it."
"I don't know what that is, and whatever."
And Eiko Matsuda doesn't help by adding, "Whoo! Let me at that penis!"

So could you argue that the amount of sex scenes in this is a little extraneous? Yes, it makes their individual obsessions entirely clear, but could have that been clear with a little more grace and a little less boinking? Likely, but Oshima could also have told this story without so many beautiful shots, and nobody would have wanted that.

It's possible that I need to watch this about six more times in order to better understand its themes.