empire of passion start out deceptively that be and if youre immediately expect it to be a horror movie . it like a riff on james m. cain the postman always ring twice and at first represent seki ( kazuko yoshiyuki ) be a mother of two and a dutiful and hard work wife to rickshaw driver gisaburo ( takahiro tamura ) . but when he not around and and she at home with the baby and the feisty and aimless young man toyoji ( tatsuya fuji ) come around to bring some goody for seki . and a little extra . theyre soon sleep together and but after he do something to her ( let just say a shave ) and he know that he will find out and and immediately propose that they kill gisaburo . they drink him up and strangle him and and then toss him down a well . naturally and this will come back to haunt them but that it literally and at least to them ( at first super terrify seki and then only later on skeptical toyoji ) and change gear into the kaidan and a japanese ghost story . this be a film where the horror come not simply out of oh and ghost and ah and but out of the total dread that build for the character . in a way there the mechanic of a film noir at work throughout and if only loosely translate by way of a 19th century japanese village a oppose to an american city or small town ( i. e. the snooping cop and the evidence find possibly by another and word get around and suspicion arouse and etc ) . it compel because seiko actually be against the plan from the start and manipulate by the lustful but ill prepared toyoji and and her reaction to gisaburo re appearance be stagger to her . take the one that come close to poetry represent gisaburo ghost and pale blue face and mostly silent and chill stare and motion for seiko to get on the rickshaw . she do and reluctantly and and he push her around on a road she doesn not know and in the wee hour before dawn and surround by smoke . most japanese ghost story wish to heaven they could get this harrowingly atmospheric . while it start to veer into hysteric towards the end and there so much here that director oshima get right in make this a distinctive work . after hit it huge in the international cinema world with in the realm of the sens ( which and ironically and get ban in his own country ) and he make something that and he claim and be even more daring that sense . maybe he be right while empire of passion have less graphic sexual content by far than it predecessor ( also star tatsuya fuji and a magnificently physical actor with an immense lot of range ) and but it daring lie in craft a world of dread . you can believe in ghost in this story and but you also have to believe how far down to their own personal hell these two would be lovebird will go . the snoop detective or the gossiping townspeople be the least of their worry represent the fate of their very soul be at stake . and oshima take what in other hand could be merely juicy pulp ( sadly and it wouldn not surprise me if an american remake be already in the work ) and craft shot after gorgeous shot and with repetition work it way into the mi en scene ( i. e. the shot of seiko and toyoji walking on that road and the camera at a dutch angle and the world tilt and surround them in a grim blue hue ) as well a some affect movement that will stay with me long after i finish typing this ( i. e. toyoji throw the leaf by one hand into the well in slow motion and or how seiko nude body be reveal after she become blind ) . it dare lie in connect on a level of the spirit not to be confuse with the spiritual and though there may be something with that as well about life and death connection to one another and inextricably . it a classic waiting to be discover .