466-467 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

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Matt
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466-467 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#1 Post by Matt » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:39 pm

Empire of Passion

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With an arresting mix of eroticism and horror, Oshima plunges the viewer into a nightmarish tale of guilt and retribution in Empire of Passion (Ai no borei). Set in a Japanese village at the end of the nineteenth century, the film details the emotional and physical downfall of a married woman (Kazuko Yoshiyuki) and her younger lover (Tatsuya Fuji) following their decision to murder her husband and dump his body in a well. Empire of Passion was Oshima’s only true kaidan (Japanese ghost story), and the film, a savage, unrelenting experience, earned him the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Disc Features

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Double Obsession: Seki, Sada, and Oshima, a new video essay by film historian and critic Catherine Russell
- New interviews with actors Kazuo Yoshiyuki and Tatsuya Fuji
- An interview program from 2003 featuring production consultant Koji Wakamatsu and assistant directors Yusuke Narita and Yoichi Sai
- U.S. trailer
- Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns and a 1978 interview with Nagisa Oshima

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In the Realm of the Senses

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Still censored in its own country, In the Realm of the Senses (Ai no corrida), by Japanese director Nagisa Oshima, remains one of the most controversial films of all time. A graphic portrayal of insatiable sexual desire, Oshima’s film, set in 1936 and based on a true incident, depicts a man and a woman (Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda) consumed by a transcendent, destructive love while living in an era of ever escalating imperialism and governmental control. Less a work of pornography than of politics, In the Realm of the Senses is a brave, taboo-breaking milestone.

Disc Features

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- New audio commentary with film scholar Tony Rayns
- New interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji
- A 1976 interview with director Nagisa Oshima and actors Fuji and Eiko Matsuda, and a 2003 program featuring interviews with consulting producer Hayao Shibata, line producer, Koji Wakamatsu, assistant director Yoichi Sai, and film distributor Yoko Asakura
- Deleted footage
- U.S. trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by Japanese film scholar Donald Richie and a reprinted interview with Oshima

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY

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mikebowes
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#2 Post by mikebowes » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:57 pm

Such good news. I purchased a few of the Yuma R2 Oshima discs after spending amazing night after amazing night at the retrospective and the transfers on those discs are simply muddy (esp. after seeing the great 35mm prints). The Blue-ray discs will certainly do the colors justice.

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swo17
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#3 Post by swo17 » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:10 pm

Senses is not exactly the kind of film I want to jump out at me in high definition, but I'm guessing the Blu-ray will sell well, if only for the film's reputation.

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Cronenfly
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#4 Post by Cronenfly » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:14 pm

Based on the print I saw at the Oshima retro, Senses in Blu will indeed be a treat (and not just for the raincoat brigade). I'm also glad that Empire is getting a meaty release of its own, as I enjoyed it just about as much as Senses. Hopefully this is but the start of a flood of Oshima (not just Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence), akin to the tide of Rossellini that likely awaits us.

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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#5 Post by fiddlesticks » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:56 pm

I expect Tony Rayns had lots of opportunities to say "Since this scene is fairly well self-explanatory and needs no narration from me, it seems a good time to discuss..." At least, I hope so.

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domino harvey
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#6 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:58 pm

I look forward to his nervous coughs and barely suppressed giggles

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#7 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:46 pm

Cronenfly wrote:Based on the print I saw at the Oshima retro, Senses in Blu will indeed be a treat (and not just for the raincoat brigade).
Passion is no visual slouch itself -- a bit disappointing that it isn't getting a BD. I'm guessing the sales just wouldn't be there.

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Cronenfly
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#8 Post by Cronenfly » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:22 am

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:
Cronenfly wrote:Based on the print I saw at the Oshima retro, Senses in Blu will indeed be a treat (and not just for the raincoat brigade).
Passion is no visual slouch itself -- a bit disappointing that it isn't getting a BD. I'm guessing the sales just wouldn't be there.
You're probably right about the sales; I was slightly surprised to learn of the Senses Blu-ray, so as nice as the two paired as Blus would have been, I'm still thankful for Senses (even though I think Empire is just as deserving).

Perkins Cobb
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#9 Post by Perkins Cobb » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:52 am

Happy to see these, but it's a shame they didn't time an Eclipse set of early Oshima along with them, a la Rossellini this month. Or ... c'mon, Criterion, make a fool out of me tomorrow.

heredity4me
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#10 Post by heredity4me » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:59 am

Yeah I'm hoping for the chance that maybe an Eclipse box set will pop up as well for Oshima. They still haven't announced one for this month but then again who knows if they will... But if they do then I could possibly have better idea of what films I need to see for the remainder of the Oshima retrospective going on here in Chicago.

Went to see Death By Hanging and Three Resurrected Drunkards the other day and enjoyed them but one had a New Yorker intro in front of it so I'm sure I'll never see it in as good of shape on DVD. If anybody wants to check out the remainder of the films at the Gene Siskel and give me a heads up on must sees that would be great since I only have the cash for a few!

Super excited by the release of these two films! The first Blu-ray box set pairing these two together would have been incredible but I'm still pleased!

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#11 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:35 am

Since he's providing the essay, I guess it's appropriate to mention Richie's Japanese Portraits, which has some brief but interesting sketches of Abe and Eiko Matsuda. You can read the relevant bits online.

Edit: I suppose some of this could be considered a spoiler for Senses -- although I'm sure Oshima knew full well a lot of viewers (especially in Japan) would already be familiar with the story.

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Tommaso
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#12 Post by Tommaso » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:52 am

"Empire of Passion" is excellent news, as the film never got the attention it deserved because apparently everybody groups it together with the far more 'sensationalist' "Senses". Good to see that CC chose to release it instead of doing "Mr. Lawrence" first. But indeed, as said above, we need a good Oshima Eclipse box. For instance, I was quite blown away recently by "Violence at noon" and "The man who left his will on film", and the first one officially seems to exist only in a sub-standard Yume edition and the latter not at all with English subs. Oshima's works from the late 60s seem to be far more interesting and daring than these later films, even though "Empire" and "Realm" still hold enough interest, visually and thought-wise, to make them very worthy entries in the collection.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#13 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:30 am

Violence at Noon is with Janus/Criterion, but no such luck on The Man Who Left His Will on Film, which is still with New Yorker. It doesn't look like Janus has any of Oshima's ATG films (which account for most of his late '60s/early '70s work).

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Barmy
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#14 Post by Barmy » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:16 am

Of all the Oshima they could do, this is so pandery. Realm is one of the most overrated "ARTHOUSE SMASHES" ever. Empire is a better film.

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HerrSchreck
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#15 Post by HerrSchreck » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:23 am

Since when did CC ever NOT start with the most obvious or classic titles-- the "settled masterpieces"-- from a director's canon... then move on (in the rare case they do... the director has to be big enough) to the less known titles.

That said, the whole Barmy Routine is wearing thin, dude.

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Barmy
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#16 Post by Barmy » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:51 am

I'd rather wear thin than fat. But really, it's hard to think of another director who has made so many films that are better than the one film he is most known for. All because there's a weinie in it.

I guess it will give DVDBeaver something to screencap.
Last edited by Barmy on Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Steven H
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#17 Post by Steven H » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:25 pm

I'm pretty much with Barmy on this one. I already expressed my strong feelings about these picks in the "Upcoming" thread, here, I'll just say "Oshima's earlier films are *much* better than these, if this is how you're being introduced to him."

Let's hope the "sex sells" ethos holds true and Criterion takes the plunge on his better stuff with the extra cash.

poohbear
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#18 Post by poohbear » Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:26 pm

Yawn.....sounds like a direct port of the french dvd which had the 'deleted scenes' and documentary. the french dvd didn't have subs but was fully custom subbed a few years ago.

As others have mentioned, these movies rank near the bottom of his oeuvre but i'm sure Criterion is counting on the fact that sex sells.

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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#19 Post by luridedith » Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:55 pm

If the "sex sells" thing works for them, here's hoping they'll release other sexually graphic masterpieces - ala "Thundercrack!" or Jonas Middleton's "Through The Looking Glass" - a nightmarish 70s art/horror/porn hybrid that's been compared to Fellini. Hell, I'd also love an remastered Radley Metzger/Henry Paris' Eclipse box.

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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#20 Post by MichaelB » Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:36 am

Thundercrack! has been promised for ages - but the site hasn't been updated for over four years.

Personally, I'd buy that DVD in a heartbeat, if only so that I can finally hear what the hell everyone was saying, as the dialogue is supposedly hilarious. The combination of a crap 16mm print and the Scala Cinema's legendarily abysmal sound system meant that it generally came out as "mgmghh fhfhffpppf fhfhsmsmb" even when the character's mouths weren't full.

Incidentally, a quick warning for anyone in Britain tempted to import In the Realm of the Senses - a scene in the uncut version infringes the notoriously draconian 1978 Protection of Children Act (since it effectively constitutes a recording of unsimulated child abuse), which means that even possession is illegal. UK Customs are well aware of the content of the film, have seized plenty of copies in the past - and its reissue on a prestige label provides no legal defence whatsoever, so if it happens there's nothing you can do.

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Tommaso
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#21 Post by Tommaso » Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:08 am

MichaelB wrote: a scene in the uncut version infringes the notoriously draconian 1978 Protection of Children Act (since it effectively constitutes a recording of unsimulated child abuse), which means that even possession is illegal.
I can't remember any child abuse in the film (but it's been several years since I last watched the film), but the existing -and terribly bad - UK disc has some brief scenes of what is described at the play.com page as "optical reframing", i.e. they electronically blurred all the children's genitals, while leaving all the adults' genitals as they are. I understand where the Protection of Children Act comes from and have no objection against the alteration in this case (unlike, for instance, the ridiculous cuts made in Zhang's "House of Flying Daggers" because of that Animal Protection Act), but it nevertheless made me wonder whether a pedophile would choose exactly this film as a stimulation for his unsavoury fantasies.
MichaelB wrote: UK Customs are well aware of the content of the film, have seized plenty of copies in the past - and its reissue on a prestige label provides no legal defence whatsoever, so if it happens there's nothing you can do.
I don't know how it is in the UK, but I would think that as long as the imported disc comes from the EU, the customs would not open the package. If so, ordering from our Danish friends at axelmusic.com would provide a way to get the CC release without problems, I suppose.

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MichaelB
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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#22 Post by MichaelB » Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:33 am

Tommaso wrote:I can't remember any child abuse in the film (but it's been several years since I last watched the film), but the existing -and terribly bad - UK disc has some brief scenes of what is described at the play.com page as "optical reframing", i.e. they electronically blurred all the children's genitals, while leaving all the adults' genitals as they are.
The "blurring" you refer to is in fact enlarged grain thanks to the extreme cropping of the shot in question - the UK disc was presumably sourced from the BFI-distributed print, on which the cropping was originally made in an optical printer at the request of the BBFC.

There's no argument that it's a recording of actual child abuse - a little boy has his penis tweaked until he bursts into tears. It's a very brief sequence, but from a legal perspective it's pretty open and shut. (That said, I don't think anyone has actually tried to challenge it in court, because I doubt anyone would think it worth going to the expense of a near-certain defeat, and the very real risk of a conviction on what are effectively child porn charges - the kind of thing you really don't want on your record, especially not if a prison sentence is involved).

Incidentally, when the film was distributed in Britain on the club circuit prior to its first BBFC-sanctioned release in 1991, its distributors deliberately left that shot at the very end of one of the reels, and included a note to managers and projectionists explaining the content of the shot, the legal problems, and advising them to perform the reel change a few seconds early. This wouldn't have saved the distributors from prosecution if anyone had complained, but I suppose it minimised the chances of complaints being made in the first place.
I understand where the Protection of Children Act comes from and have no objection against the alteration in this case (unlike, for instance, the ridiculous cuts made in Zhang's "House of Flying Daggers" because of that Animal Protection Act), but it nevertheless made me wonder whether a pedophile would choose exactly this film as a stimulation for his unsavoury fantasies.
I think it's highly unlikely, but the problem with the Protection of Children Act and the Animals Act is that context and intent don't provide a defence in law. What the law is concerned with is whether the film constitutes a recording of actual child sexual abuse/animal cruelty - in this these laws differ entirely from the 1959 Obscene Publications Act, whose "artistic merit" defence has meant that it's actually prevented more films from being cut than otherwise!
I don't know how it is in the UK, but I would think that as long as the imported disc comes from the EU, the customs would not open the package. If so, ordering from our Danish friends at axelmusic.com would provide a way to get the CC release without problems, I suppose.
Yes, that's certainly a way round it - and while it's technically illegal even to possess a copy, it's extraordinarily unlikely that any prosecution would result, unless you were being investigated for something else and the police used it as an excuse to detain you while their primary investigations were still going on (as happened with Craig Meehan recently). We all know that there's a huge difference between a Nagisa Oshima film and downloaded images of child porn, but British law doesn't actually recognise it - which is why I thought I should post a warning.

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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#23 Post by Perkins Cobb » Sun Jan 18, 2009 12:01 am

Oy. So many good reasons to live in your country, Michael, and one big dealbreaker.

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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#24 Post by MichaelB » Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:51 am

Perkins Cobb wrote:Oy. So many good reasons to live in your country, Michael, and one big dealbreaker.
Unless there's something you're trying to confess, it's hardly a "big dealbreaker" that Britain has draconian child pornography laws! Not least because the number of important films affected by them is minuscule - but this just happens to be one. (In fact, is there any other artistically significant film that features a record of child sexual abuse clearly shown to be causing pain?)

Unfortunately, this is the kind of legislation that, once enacted, is pretty much impossible to overturn or even modify (unless the modifications involve toughening it up). Normally, one would lobby one's local MP (the BBFC can't do anything, and in any case have no jurisdiction over imports), but in this case the political calculations involved can be predicted in advance with more or less total certainty: the electorally insignificant views of weirdo art movie fans on the one side versus the outrage of the Daily Mail (who would jump on this story in a heartbeat), the labelling of the MP as a pro-paedophile campaigner, and the subsequent loss of his/her seat in a landslide!

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Re: 468- 469 Empire of Passion and In the Realm of the Senses

#25 Post by MichaelB » Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:01 am

david hare wrote:Tedious beyond belief and all this Nanny State malarkey does absolutely nothing to actually protect children from abuse.
The BBFC would agree with you - the Protection of Children Act is a royal pain, because they have to ensure that all UK video releases abide by it, regardless of their own personal feelings about the film's artistic merit. I was frankly amazed at how little they ended up cutting out of Jean-Claude Lauzon's Léolo, a film that I thought would be eviscerated - but they liked the film and so they were really forensic about it, merely removing two brief instances of material that was clearly illegal. (I saw "before" and "after" versions, and was frankly amazed that they bothered for all the difference it made - but they probably wouldn't have bothered if they hadn't been legally compelled to do so).

The biggest problem is when distributors take it upon themselves to remove anything potentially problematic - hacking out minutes rather than seconds. Russ Meyer used to slag off the BBFC for chopping out vast chunks of his films, until a BBFC spokesman pointed out that they'd barely ever touched his stuff - the cutting had been made by the distributors so that the films could play conveniently in a triple bill. One of the more amusing moments in an otherwise wrist-slittingly depressing 1983 Commons debate about video censorship was seeing an MP citing Vixen as the ultimate in screen depravity (!) because it had just been reissued with some 25 minutes restored. This was heavily publicised on the poster (which presumably the MP had spotted: he certainly hadn't actually seen the film), though I'm willing to bet a great deal that those 25 minutes mostly consisted of narrative material originally jettisoned by the original UK distributors so that the film would cut more quickly to the chase.

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