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Eiko Matsuda, Ai no korîda (US: In the Realm of the Senses), Japan-France, 1975. Standing by your man, Tokyo style… Japanese directing icon Nagisa Oshima said his main subjects were sex and crime: “the most violent urges of human beings.” OK, said Paris producer Anatole Dauman, let’s make a porno flick! The result was the most important film in erotic cinema. Oshima created art core – far better than any Lars Von Trier codswallop. Trickiest problem, the director thought, would be finding actors willing to have sex in front of the camera. Imagine his shock when his actress wife Akiko Koyama, suddenly said: ”I’ll do it,” Oshima was floored and she later explained that when word got out that she was willing, then other actors would know it was a good role and feel more comfortable about auditioning.” She was righjt. ”They came in great numbers,” said Oshima, ,”saying if sex was required, well, that was no big deal.” Akiko l played a non-explicit geisha when Oshima shot the (true) story, In the Realm of the Senses, – withEiko Matsuda in 1975 – on the same Daiei Studio lot in Kyoto where Kurosawa made his 50s’ classic, Rashômon. How times had changed! (Mrs Oshima also made hubby’s next, similar but non-explicit movie, Ai no borei (US: Empire of Passion), 1977).
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 1