He provoked Japan's stringent censors with IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976; December 19 at 7 pm), a hardcore erotic masterpiece drawn from the true story of an increasingly claustrophobic, sadomasochistic affair between a man and a woman who are sexually dependent on each other. What taboos were left? Perhaps he could take on the hallowed traditions of the samurai. Although he himself descended from this legendary class of warriors, Oshima didn't feel compelled to make a samurai film until 2000. He began TABOO (December 22 at 7 pm) after suffering a stroke that left him directing from a wheelchair, and it will likely be his last work.
Having taken the male/female dichotomy of the destructive power of love to its logical if lacerating conclusion in In the Realm of the Senses, Oshima in Taboo ventures into the realm of the unheralded yet implicitly acknowledged homosexual relationships that would have taken hold within clans consisting entirely of men. He tread lightly on this theme with the homoerotic tension in a POW camp in MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE (1983; December 7 at 7 pm), but the destructive results depicted in Taboo — beautifully presented with lush cinematography and long, carefully crafted and observed takes — leave you wondering whether, despite the film's iconoclasm, he didn't in the end give into traditional style, embracing the techniques of an old master like Mizoguchi.
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