Our Staff Picks column takes you back to a time when video stores reigned supreme and the "Staff Picks" section was the place to find out what films were worthy of one's time. Of course, our version of Staff Picks has a decidedly skintillating angle, as we suss out which films from a certain genre or year with great nudity. This week: Japanese movies from the 1970s!
Japanese cinema is rich with a long history and some of the best films that the world has ever seen. They have done it all from Rashomon to this year's Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Drive My Car. So why focus on just the 1970s in Japan? Because it was a golden era for nudity!
Japanese New Wave took place in the 60s, allowing artsy filmmakers to get much more experimental with movies. That experimentation carried over into the 1970s when filmmakers started experimenting with something else: nudity. These movies were suddenly filled to the brim with nudity!
Let's check out these iconic 1970s Japanese films with skintastic nude scenes:
House
I'm starting with House because I highly recommend House - to everyone. Literally. I love this trippy movie that is perfect for a late-night viewing with friends, possibly partaking in some substances. This cult classic about a haunted house has everything: laughs, fantasy, horror. There are creatures, ghosts, blood, gags, and even a piano that eats a human. Plus the movie stars a cast of gorgeous Japanese girls - one of whom is literally named Gorgeous. Kimiko Ikegami plays Gorgeous and she is when she is naked.
There is more where that came from. Ai Matsubara has a hot underwater scene that shows off her lean figure. She is trying to swim to the top,
A Woman With Red Hair
Filmmaker Tatsumi Kumashiro considered this movie to be his masterpiece and fans tend to agree. This dramedy goes all over the place emotionally as it tells the story of a construction worker and a working-class chick who start an affair. Junko Miyashita plays the lady in question and she has a hot nude scene that shows off her breasts. She is not alone! Miyako Yamaguchi also shows her boobs twice in hot sex scenes.
Vengeance Is Mine
Japanese cinema in the 70s is filled with revenge films and 1979's Vengeance is Mine might be one of the best of those. Shohei Imamura made this film about a psychopathic murderer running from the cops. While he's been gone, his wife is hooking up with his father. That's the leat of his concerns because he is trying to hide from the cops by any means necessary. This film is loosely based on a real story and leading man Ken Ogata delivers a stellar performance.
Don't worry - there is nudity. Mitsuko Baisho plays Kazuko Enokizu and she goes nude in a scene that shows off her big bosom and her tight tush. She is a real vixen in Vengeance!
Tattooed Flower Vase
Masaru Konuma directed this 1976 film, so you know there is going to be skin. He was known for infusing skin in his movies! A widow lives with her teen daughter, but their lives change when a young attractive guy comes into the picture. A mother-daughter love triangle? Yes!
Naomi Tani plays the teen daughter and she has three sexy scenes, two of which show TA. She gets increasingly tattooed throughout the movie so we watch her body in various states of being a living canvas. Watch her decorate her body with all kinds of intricate ink.
Lady Snowblood 2
I can't talk about 1970s Japanese movies without mentioning at least one Lady Snowblood film. The original Lady Snowblood did not have any nudity in it, but the 1974 sequel does. We go back to 19th century Japan where a woman is sentenced to die after doing a ton of killing in the name of vengeance in the first film.
The emperor's secret police swoop in to rescue her so that she can do some killing for them. She has to help them out or she risks being sent back to her death, but helping them is going to be very dangerous for her. She can handle it because she definitely knows her way around a sword. Get it? Kazuko Yoshiyuki stars and shows some rock-hard nipples underneath her silk robes.
In the Realm of the Senses
Is any 1970s film from Japan hotter than In the Realm of the Senses? This is a BDSM romance that got an NC-17 rating for its very taboo sex scenes. Nagisa Oshima is responsible for this film that is actually based on a true story (the true story does not have a happy ending - a warning to those who look it up)! In pre-war Japan, a man and his female servant start an obsessive sexual relationship that gets out of hand as the couple continues to push boundaries. They get very very kinky as Eiko Matsuda agrees to partake in all kinds of things.
There are multiple real sex scenes in this film. Watch one of three real sex scenes here:
