In the 1960s Koji Wakamatsu was Japanese cinema¡¯s enfant terrible: A real-life outlaw ¡ª he once joined a yakuza gang and served time in prison ¡ª he made pioneering ¡°pink¡± (softcore porn) films such as ¡°The Embryo Hunts in Secret¡± (1966) and ¡°Go, Go, Second Time Virgin¡± (1969), whose extreme sex and violence, filmed with raw energy and wild invention, gave censors and industry guardians conniption fits.
His defenders (including Wakamatsu himself) claimed he was reflecting the era¡¯s trends and critiquing its crimes, from the Vietnam War to the Manson family killings.
I interviewed and met Wakamatsu several times prior to his untimely death in a road accident on Oct. 17, 2012. He was feisty and outspoken, but his sense of mission also struck me. He saw himself as a truth-telling guerrilla in a business, society and world dedicated to peddling convenient lies.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.