Wordiezett So much average

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

WILLIAM FLANIGAN Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars; cinematography/lighting = two (2) stars. Director Nagisa Oshima's test bed for experimenting/playing with film techniques at the expense of a credible story line, a plot with potholes, and unbridled free-ranging actresses/actors. This is a tale filled with many twists and turns most of which are telegraphed ahead (and far from surprising) or simply unbelievably dumb. On the surface, the plot appears almost Hitchcockian, but immediately disintegrates with even the most rudimentary analysis. The Director tries valiantly to use a wide- screen cinematic format for close-ups, but only ends up with chopped-off faces/heads. He also often fails to take full advantage of the format by not fully filling the screen from side to side. Lab-processed effects are interesting when first used, but quickly become seen-that-before boring as they ramble on and on. Cinematography (wide screen, color) comes across as little better than a home movie, and scene lighting is simply terrible (the major plot point of a killing on a train is impossible for the viewer to see--as are all dark/night scenes in the film--although one character claims to have witnessed it (using night-vision goggles, perhaps?)). Acting appears to be mostly ad lib, the score is fine and adds impact to scenes, and the subtitle are okay. Overall a fascinating experience if you park your brain on the coffee table and just enjoy the ride. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Falconeer Nagisa Oshima's "Pleasures of the Flesh" is the sad, utterly depressing tale of an average man, driven to moral corruption, by unrequited love of an unattainable woman. Atsushi Wakizaka is obsessed with the delicate beauty, Shoko. She doesn't return the sentiment, for good reason, as Atsushi is somewhat of a loser with no ambition and a weak character. Driven to murder a particularly vile man who raped, and then attempted to blackmail Shoko, Atsushi finds himself the victim of blackmail, by a yet another vile, reprehensible character that witnessed the crime. A chain of events is set into motion when he is asked to hold onto 30 million Yen while his blackmailer serves his 5 year prison term. The self-destructive Atsushi decides that he will waste the money on a succession of whores that resemble the girl who rejected him to marry a wealthy cosmetics magnate. Of course things don't turn out as planned, leading up to a shocking climax, that doesn't hold a happy ending for anybody..Wow, what an exhaustive parade of lowlifes, losers, pimps, thugs, bums, and murderers inhabit Oshima's beautifully framed vision. Of course this controversial Japan director is known for his exploration of the seedy, dark underbelly of Japanese society. Shot in lurid, film noir style, I cannot say this is an 'enjoyable' film, but it is undeniably so well made, that it deserves it's praise. Best viewed as a cautionary tale about how money can corrupt a weak soul, and even distort reality. Despite it's sexy title, don't expect a sexually charged film, as you will be disappointed. Expect instead to witness the complete and utter destruction of a man's soul. And be prepared to spend 90 minutes with some truly slimy, despicable characters. Recommended for those viewers that enjoy wallowing in a world of crime and corruption..

MisterWhiplash For a movie called 'Pleasures of the Flesh' this was actually a fairly tame time. Specifically, if you're considering that you'll see some of that 'Wow-wa-wee-wa!' sexuality that Oshima made so notorious with In the Realm of the Senses you may just be outright disappointed. This story comes more by way of a precursor to a 'Leaving Las Vegas' where it's about a guy who goes on a path of self-destruction after being blackmailed into holding on to thirty million dollars by a man who saw our protagonist (Ashima) kill another man on a train. A lot of this plot doesn't really need to be explained - or rather, the movie does a helluva job explaining it to us again and again when not really necessary - and the main thrust is about a kind of guilt and shame filled trek into despair. Cheery, of course.I don't know if Oshima's direction had quite gotten to the point it had in just the next few films he would make - i.e. Violence at Noon, Sing a Song of Sex, and the best of them Japanese Summer: Double Suicide - where he could make a compelling plot with a wild and idiosyncratic vision with the camera (the man simply shoots wide-shots and close-ups like no one else, somehow with him people are farther away and when close you can see the whites of their eyes). Here, he's got a solid premise, and some fine acting from his lead and a couple of supporting players, but has too much explanation of things going on and not enough, frankly, titillation. We see the character hand off money, lots of it, recklessly (which is good to see) for the women he acquires, the most interesting being a wife who is sleeping with him so he can support his husband and children (when he confronts Ashima it's really quite a tense scene, mostly for how seemingly nice or mean he could be in the same breath).But at the same time we only see a little of how he really soaks up this 'pleasure' (albeit maybe the the title of the book this is based on, Pleasures in a Coffin, could have been an indicator for the film-noir-ish nihilism on display). A lot of the film is spent with the character lamenting his lost love, a once pupil of his who married someone else (and was part of the cause of this whole thing to begin with), and being a self-destructive ass around those he makes love to; one memorable scene has him on a beach in a situation with a woman where no one comes out well, and yet brings a marriage. You know, the kind of marriage that actually has a 'divorce-by' date included.The cinematography in color brings out (oddly enough) the melancholy state of things, and the paranoia that builds in the third act is convincing and palpable. If only there was a little more focus, or just a stronger sense of the degradation of the character past the carelessness of the money (maybe more dangerous-type scenes like a gangster threatening one of his women with acid to the face), it could have been something special. As it is, Pleasures of the Flesh is more like a 'nice' (I hate to use that word but it is) indicator of the darker recessed the filmmaker would go into just in a year or so.

zetes A school teacher is blackmailed by a corrupt politician after he is seen committing a murder. The corrupt politician demands that the teacher watch his suitcase stuffed with 30 million yen while he spends a year in prison. Probably not a good idea on the politician's part. You see, the teacher committed the murder to protect a former student with whom he was deeply smitten. But afterward, she got married and vanished from his life. Now he has nothing to live for and decides that he'll spend every penny of that suitcase money on sex and debauchery, and then kill himself afterward. While the DVD box and insert claim this to be a pinku film, it's not at all. It's not in the least bit erotic. It may be sleazy, but not in any fun way. It's a depressing art-house drama, really. I thought the set-up of the plot was kind of ridiculous (the teacher and politician are complete strangers; the teacher could have easily used the money to run away and start a new life. And even if the politician could convince the cops that the teacher committed the murder, it'd be pretty much impossible to prove one year later, wouldn't it? It's just not a good set up for blackmail), but the main plot is definitely interesting. The film is well made and looks gorgeous. The colors on the Eclipse DVD are really beautiful.