Sunday, September 13, 2009
Empire of Oshima
Nagisa Oshima's Empire of Passion will always stand in the shadows of its more crazed and bolder predecessor, the sexually explicit In the Realm Of The Senses. Empire features the same producer actor and crew of the Realm. But it is an entirely different universe. Place is a distinct character here. They rented an old village and remodeled an entire 19th century there over a three-four month period fully accounting the seasons.
The tale is an archetype. It regards as background to one of the most standard of subject matters: passion between wife stuck in her life and a rogue charisimo whose love leads to one conclusion which is to kill the husband. But the real story comes after murder. It regards The consequences of Their actions. The commentary track on the Criterion reissue by a woman professor from Toronto (whose name I do not recall) links Empire with the novels and the films of novels by of James M Cain. In particular contrasts and linkages were studied in the various film versions of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Empire is not really a version of that story, it is more like its nineteenth century Japanese cousin. Its static social order shaken by lust at the same time feudalism was getting ready to crumble.
In Realm, that means dealing with the ghost of their victim, the husband Chiracaso the rickshaw driver. He has a playful vengence annoying the murderers and making guest appearances in dreams of the townpeaple. Chiracoso the ghostly rickshaw driver is pretty cool. For the right person it would make a killer halloween costume.
This film is both naturalistic and stylistic. The mise en scene is Welles Euro old style at times. It even kind of feels like John Ford at times. There is much to take your breath away here. It has this unique quality of feeling like a really amazing Hollywood like set, but you know you are really out in the woods. Apocalypse now made me feel like that.
I had never seen Empire of Passion until its Criterion reissue of earlier this year. I am glad it has been twenty years since I saw Realm Of The Senses. I saw it my first and only other time was thirty years ago when it came out. Realm is a film one can never forget. Its sexuality is indeed explicit but is not necesarily pornographic. It isn't really poetic as much as telling a hard ass shell at the extremes kind of story with poetic spicing. Realm bangs the movie goer into territory of sensual obsession bright and head on.
On the other hand, Empire is literally a tale of a village. Literally. The voice over postscript about the fate of the lovers is voiced by an old, old woman who apparently was there at the time. She could have been old enough for a modern interview in 1978 when the film came out. Long before Titanic.
posted by well-executed buffet at 7:03 PM
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