Compare and Contrast Essay on "In the Realm of Senses" and "Maborosi"

Introduction

Japan has one of the largest and oldest film industries across the world. Japan cinema had been unstable over the era of post-Pacific War, but from 1986, the industry took a new twist and produced films that sold internationally. "In the Realm of Senses" is a French-Japanese film produced by Nagisa Oshima and released in 1976. The film depict the erotic pleasure of satisfying the gratification desire but also eluded the adverse consequences as the man get his manhood chopped off for failing to satisfy the woman, who was a pronoun prostitute. It focuses on the love affair between Sada and Ishida, depicting their sexual relationship in an explicit detail by portraying Sada as a woman with unquenchable sexual desire while his husband is seen as a vehicle that serves her insatiable thirst. On the other hand, "Maborosi" is also a Japanese film directed by Hirokazu Koreeda and released in 1995. It based on a story of a woman, Esumi, whose happiness is destroyed by an odd occasion that seems to have happened without a reason. Her obsession with death turned into reality when her husband, Izuo, dies in a grisly train accident. The theme of death and prevalent suicide make the film intriguing s it leaves me with numerous unanswered questions. Therefore, the investigation strive to depict and illuminate numerous fascinating, captivating and interesting phenomena in the films while comparing multidimensional elements within the themes in both "In the Realm of Senses" and "Maborosi"

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In the Realm of Senses

The film interestingly exemplifies Japanese cultural mythology depicting a dangerous passion of a woman, a real-life dokufu, whose sexual dissatisfaction is a literal incarnation of Barbara Creed's perception of the 1992 "monstrous feminine." I am absolutely enthralled that after Kichi, the hotel owner molests her, Sada still finds him attractive that they begin having erotic sexual relation that even drives Kichi to divorce his wife. In the realm of senses is essentially an unfathomable and revolting love story. The couple, Sada and Kiki isolate themselves from the society to satisfy their pleasure. Sada is sexually obsessed, and as time progresses, the ordinary activities become boring, and they continue to ratchet up their affair. As the sexual activity grows boring, Sada turns into masochism. I am surprised that even after she turns masochist, and begin strangling Kichi during bedroom moments, which she learned while working as a prostitute as she always encouraged her clients to slap her repetitively, Kichi still continued with the relationship. I feel the film tried to demonstrate the level of ignorance and assumption that most individuals relates. For instance, having an affair with a former prostitute irrespective of her current lifestyle should be unethical. Additionally, she moves a step further and introduces choking when performing the act, which she enjoys but not considering the feelings of her Kichi. I believe sex is a pleasurable act that both partners should enjoy rather than one individual dominating the scene.

Moreover, it is interesting that despite all the choking and masochism, Sada still finds the activities boring thus; they still need to up their game. However, when Kichi tells Sada that she should not stop the chocking the next time they perform the sexual act, he is making his last sacrifice as she ends up choking him to death. I am fascinated and shocked how Kichi began loving being chocked to an extend that he is chocked to death. It is stunning how their belief in death is significantly limited. However, I was captivated and intrigued that after chocking Kichi to death, she still embraces him stating "Sada Kichi the two of us forever". She chopped off his penit as a sign of love and to keep him closer to him. I think she tries to keep a part of him to patch her vulnarability and weeknesses. The film reminds me of the documentary of Sagawa Issei, a Japanese man who killed and cannibalised a french blond woman because she depited a contradiction of his being, as she was beautiful, tall and loving, qualities that Issei lacked making him believe that cannibalizing the white woman would fill the gap and eradicate her weaknesses. I believe despite the films intention to depict love, the grotesque, weird and ludicrous act only portrays the protagonist's ignorance and affinity to domination.

Conclusively, when watching the film for the first time, I was amused and shocked as the scenes like children throwing snowballs at an old man's genitals only serve to provoke and aggravate the viewers. The producer, Oshima, puts no boundaries as he shows all the sexual acts, in which the movie is based on. He accomplishes what most producers have failed to by treating the subject of sex without shrinking any of its aspects. The sexual themes presented in the film have raised a lot of controversies in Japan as some deem it inappropriate and pornographic, but from my point of view, the film is great and educative as the sex scenes are not meant to arouse anyone, hence it should not be viewed as pornographic. "In the Realm of Senses" goes beyond Japanese politics and explores how someone can flee from the society to sensuality. The visual imagery in the film including the sonic soundscape and the soundtrack punctuations by traditional Japanese music are also great as they depict the Japanese traditions and nature of life.

Maborosi"Maborosi" is a great film that depicts the life of Yumiko, a lonely woman who seeks to find answers and happiness in her life. The movie begins with a flashback of Yumiko as a young girl watching her grandmother wandering off to her biological home on foot but never appeared again. She has many questions in her mind as she cannot understand why her grandmother had to return to her childhood home, why she did not come back, and she did not stop her. Yumiko is obsessed with the dream as it keeps on haunting her and she cannot stop thinking about it. The film is interesting and captivating as is explains the fundamental contemporary challenges that affect people in domestic relationships. I believe that Yumika was careless as she left her grandmother to wander off and die on her way to her biological home. I am fascinated how she feels responsible for her grandmother's death, an idea the haunts her for the better part of her life, and she cannot find answers to her endless questions. Further, Yumiko and Ikuo live happily and deeply love each other, they bear a son who increased the joy in her life, but it was cut short by the death of her husband. I was absorbed suppressed and overwhelmingly repressed by the mysterious death of Ikuo. I am skeptical that he might have engrossed by the mothers spirit to commit suicide by jumping in front of a train.

I believe the film tries to illuminate the prevalent difficulties that one faces when trying to find meaning and happiness in her life, as tragedy strikes bringing back the sorrow and sadness. For instance, Yumika's husband mysteriously commit suicide leaving her to raise their child as a single mother. Her dream seems to have come to reality as she had watched her husband living their home, but he never came back, the same case with her grandmother. I feel the film is interesting because it portrays the confusion and chaos that humans do not have control over. For instance, whatever Yumika dreams come to pass but she cannot prevent it. When she dreams of her grandmother's unexplained departure, she ended up dead, the same with her husband. However, she cannot understand why her husband committed suicide making her devastated and depressed. Her aunt becomes a matchmaker and finds a husband for her who lights happiness back in her life. The cinematography tells the story and the camera captures shots at various angles to link the script with the pictures. After the death of Ikuo in Osaka, the camera is preoccupied with a tunnel, the narrow street with tall buildings and the natural lights used to capture the film give a melancholic feeling to the scenes captured in the city. All the aspects of visual imagery, the passages, alleys, and tunnels, used in the film are a reflection of Yumiko's inner emotional feelings, trapped by confusion and grief. The film is also a long camera shot, which emphasizes the disconnection between Yumiko and life after the death of her husband.

Comparison and Contrast between the films

"In the Realm of Senses" and "Maborosi" are Japanese films portraying various similarities and differences in their setting. Both movies depict the theme of love whereby they narrate the love stories of two women, Sada in "In the Realm of Senses" and Yumiko in "Maborosi." They both had strong relationships which brought joy in their lives. However, their happiness was cut short by the loss of their husbands, and their joy was turned to sorrow. Sada's husband died while they were having sex while Ikuo was hit by a train. As seen from both films, the death of the two husbands was intentional; Kichi's death was out of love while the reason behind Ikuo's suicide remains to be a mystery that Yumiko tries to find. The manner in which the two men dye are very different as Kichi passes away in the arms of his wife, Ikuo dies in away from his home in a grisly accident.

Moreover, life after the death of their husbands also contrast as Yumiko finds another husband, but Sada is on the run for two days before she is arrested and taken to jail. As Yumiko finds a happily ever after, Sada faces the consequences of her actions in prison. While Yumiko feels a disconnection with her husband, Sada carries her husband's manhood to maintain their connection even after the death of Kichi. The writings on her husband's chest "me and Kichi forever" portray the connection between the two. Their obsessions are also the complete opposite of each other as Sada is obsessed with sex, an act of pleasure and happiness while Yumiko has an obsession with death which means sorrow and grief in her life. Sada's obsession prompts her to find ways to satisfy her sexual desires while Yumiko's obsession forces her to find answers behind the death of her husband. Sada and Yumiko try to find happiness in their lives but as Sada is focused on finding sexual satisfaction, Yumiko is struggling to find the truth behind her grandmother's disappearance and the death of her husband. Despite the differences, the films portray the themes of love, obsession and clearly narrates the predicaments and achievements encountered in their journey of finding happiness.