It’s time for the duel.
It’s time for the duel.
In the left corner, we have A Woman Called Sada Abe (1975). In the right corner, we have In the Realm of the Senses (1976). I have just created three categories for this duel because you won’t find a hero or a villain in these movies. Except for a special scene, these are not violent movies.
So, I found three categories that I could use, and if I were to create a fourth one, it would have to be cinematography. However, I don’t expect that people who want to watch these movies are interested in the cinematography. But if you are, In the Realm of the Senses is a clear winner in that category.
Best Story:
A Woman Called Sada Abe is a short movie with a runtime of around 76 minutes. So, it doesn’t have much time to delve deep into the relationship and obsession that Sada has with her manly lover. The movie isolates these two characters inside a room for the most part where they are enjoying themselves and, in the end, playing a deadly game. The dialogue between them isn’t interesting, and you never feel like you get under the skin of the characters. The erotic scenes don’t tell us much about their relationship. In the last 5 minutes of the movie, we visit Sada’s past, and she tells us what happened to her when she was young. It’s pretty lazy, and you never get to know her as a person and why she ended up the way she did. So, that could have been told better, and they should have made the movie 90 minutes long.
In The Realm of the Senses is a longer movie, and that benefits the movie even though it’s mostly known for the erotic scenes that knock out A Woman Called Sada Abe. Even though the movie never tells us anything about Sada Abe’s past, the chemistry between the two actors is in a completely different league compared with the actors in A Woman Called Sada Abe. You feel a much deeper connection, and because of that, the interaction between the two lovers is more interesting and intense since they feel more human. You can tell that Sada Abe is obsessed with her manly lover and the gift he has for pleasing a woman like Sada Abe. She can never get enough. She’s like a love machine that uses her lover the way she wants to. He’s like a love slave for the love machine.
So, the first point goes to In the Realm of the Senses.
Best Erotic Scenes:
Now, we have the most important category for the perverts out there. You should know by now that there can only be one winner in this category, and it’s a brutal knockout.
The erotic scenes in In the Realm of the Senses go much deeper than those in A Woman Called Sada Abe. It has some memorable scenes that you won’t forget, especially the disturbing scene with Sada Abe and the egg. It’s a scene that I can’t get out of my mind.
The couple in In the Realm of the Senses feels so natural during the erotic scenes, while the couple in A Woman Called Sada Abe lacks chemistry. The erotic scenes are pretty bad, especially when they play the deadly game with the kimono sash—it looks ridiculous and even comedic. Replace Sada Abe with Jim Carrey in that scene, and it becomes utterly absurd!
So, another point goes to In the Realm of the Senses.
Best Actors:
This is another easy category, and we have a clear winner. The actor who plays the man in A Woman Called Sada Abe is just awful and not nearly as good-looking as the actor in In the Realm of the Senses. He doesn’t have any charisma, and he already looks half-dead when he shouldn’t because we haven’t seen enough of these two characters as we do in In the Realm of the Senses. He’s awful, and he should be ashamed of his lazy and uncharismatic acting.
The actress who plays Sada Abe in A Woman Called Sada Abe is much better in the more emotional scenes than the actress who plays Sada Abe in In the Realm of the Senses. She has a wider range as an actress compared to the actress in In the Realm of the Senses. But the problem is that the script doesn’t allow her to be as clingy and tiresome as the actress who plays Sada Abe in In the Realm of the Senses.
The woman in In the Realm of the Senses is much better at being clingy and intense. You can tell that she is a woman who enjoys the company of her lover every day, several times a day. She is believable and in a different league when she ultimately kills the man she loves.
Then, we have the actor who plays her lover, and he is excellent. He had a pretty good career after this movie. I have watched him in several movies, and he is solid. It’s amusing that he looks like a younger Jet Li in the movie. You can see that he has lost all hope and energy towards the end of the movie because of how clingy and needy his lover is. His acting is excellent, and he is so believable as a man who is tired of a crazy woman who wants him all day long. Just watch his body language and the way he talks. That is excellent acting. He just wants to die because he doesn’t care anymore since he has a relationship with an insane and obsessed love machine.
So, another point goes to In the Realm of the Senses.
Conclusion:
This was an easy win for In the Realm of the Senses, which got 3 points, while A Woman Called Sada Abe got 0 points. I wasn’t personally the biggest fan of In the Realm of the Senses, but it’s a movie that will stick with you because of the filthy and naughty Sada Abe, who doesn’t want to hold hands when she’s out walking with her lover. Who needs a hand when you can hold something else?
Even though In the Realm of the Senses doesn’t tell us what happened in the life of Sada Abe when she grew up, it manages to show us how obsessed and crazy she was about her lover and his manly part. The obsession is so much clearer in In the Realm of the Senses than in A Woman Called Sada Abe. The most important thing for me is that the actors in In the Realm of the Senses have great chemistry, while in A Woman Called Sada Abe, the chemistry isn’t there at all because of the lousy male actor who looks like he is half-dead even before the movie begins. He is a disgrace to humanity when it comes to acting. I feel sorry for the female actress who tries her best, but she is trying to get some emotions out of a brick wall. And that is an impossible task.
So, if you can handle the filthiness that you will see and experience in In the Realm of the Senses, then watch that movie and just skip A Woman Called Sada Abe. It’s not worth watching because In the Realm of the Senses is simply a much better movie that you won’t forget, and you will always remember the name, Sada Abe.