Friday, January 23, 2009

‘Restricted Screening’ Ruled Unconstitutional, Korean Films to Get Racier

We can thank “Shortbus” (NSFW!) for helping the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court rule the “restricted screening” rating unconstitutional:

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the import and distribution of U.S. film “Shortbus,” ruling to annul the “restricted screening” rating imposed on the movie by the Korea Media Rating Board, on Thursday last week. Restricted screening virtually means a film cannot be screened in regular movie theaters. Thanks to the court’s ruling, “Shortbus” can be screened in cinemas. The controversial movie graphically portrays non-simulated sex scenes, such as group sex and masturbation. It has played at numerous domestic and international film festivals, and has been recognized for its artistic merits by critics.

The upside to all this?

Korean films are likely to feature more vivid depictions of sex from after the ruling. Sex scenes in Korean movies have gradually become more liberated, despite a constant struggle with the censorship system. The 1956 film “Liberated Madame” was the first to present female sexuality onscreen, and an age of erotic movies began with “Madame Aema” in 1982.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Now, one could certainly argue that “the age of erotic movies” that began with “Madame Aema” (great posters — scroll down) has royally sucked. Yet we still respect our elders here, so to celebrate, I link to a clip from the ‘82 classic starting Ahn So-young that started it all.

No, they certainly don’t make films like that anymore.

Ahn, of course, was known for being pretty well endowed… at least for Korea in 1982. She’s still bangin’, in fact — in 2005, she released a nude photo series (NSFW!) in which she looks pretty damn good, especially considering that she was 46 when they were taken.

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