May be a stupid question, but is/was she a serious actress, or was she a porn actress ? Like I say, may be stupid, but it is bothering me. Would a serious actress go to those lengths for her art ? Or was she an above average porn actress in a serious film ?
Anglo
I believe there's something to the old adage that the only "stupid" question is the one unasked...
I started getting into Japanese and and other films from the orient about five years ago. Since then I've run across Eiko Matsuda's work several times. She's a serious actress with quite a lot of courage. I think she's stage trained and played serious dramtic roles in France and the Philippines as well as Japan. I've seen no indications of pornography in any of her films although she didn't make many; less than a dozen. If you google her you'll find the only nude images of her are vid caps from this film.
Having the courage to accept a project like "Ai no corrida" back in 1976 puts her ahead of her time and probably damaged her career. The situation may portend to the future of more current actors like Margo Stilley from the 2005 film, "9 Songs," which is also a general release film with explicit sex. Matsuda was a more highly trained performer at the time she made her decision to accept a lead in an explicit and unconventional film. The jury's still out on Stilley's career. It seems that 30 years later we'd be over punishing people for having the courage to follow their art. "Ai no corrida" was a best selling book based on a true story. If the book were a graphic novel I wonder if the author's career would've ended. My guess is no.
By the way, the writer/director of "Ai no corrida," Nagisa Oshima, made over 30 films. Evidently the movie did't harm his career...
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In the interview that is included in the Criterion DVD, the director of this film indicates that Ms Matsuda had been active in the "underground theatre" prior to taking this part.
I take it that means "independent" or "Off Off Broadway" kind of theatre.
If we are to be brothers, let us be brothers for life, die together.
I'm not sure how good an actress Margo Stilley is. But "The Brown Bunny" doesn't seem to have damaged Chloe Sevigny's career much, or "Intimacy" Kerry Fox's.
The casting meetings for "Ai No Corrida" must have been interesting, though.
I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.
According to my wife, any woman involved in porno/pink films in the 70s was considered a porno actress there. But I think she may have been associated with helping to raise that bar.
shareAoi Nakajima who played Kichi's wife was a porn actress.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2194326/
A recent French documentary about the film confirmed that she was indeed a serious indie theater actress - and that her career in serious films was over after the controversy this film caused. The public opinion deemed her basically a prostitute, and people would ridicule her to her face around town.
After Realm she would only get a few roles in pinku movies, so she decided to move to France with her musician husband. Years later she developed a brain tumor of some sort, and her rich father invited her back to Japan and paid for an operation. But her French friends never heard from her again.
In a rare interview clip before Realm was finished she admitted she had some complexes that needed working on, and she hoped taking on the role might actually help her.
Hats off to the brave woman, I say!
Can you really call her an "actress"? More like child molester prostitute.
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