'SENSES' and SENSATION

Infamous Japanese filmmaker Nagisa Oshima -- the subject of a retrospective at Walker Art Center -- may be a well known name in cinematic circles, but most of his films remain obscure even to the most devoted fan.

Uncompromising in challenging the boundaries of cinematic form and content, he created a diverse body of work over 40 years that remains shocking and subversive. Whether it's the bitter social realism of "A Town of Love and Hope," the sadomasochistic spectacle "In the Realm of the Senses," the aesthetic political potboiler "Night and Fog in Japan" or the homoerotic samurai drama "Taboo," these are confrontational films that beg for collective viewing.

But while his contemporaries enjoy DVD releases with commentaries and special features, most of Oshima's films have languished, unavailable. The series "In the Realm of Oshima," which starts Wednesday at the Walker, helps rectify that with 16 films, 13 of them in new 35mm prints. The Twin Cities is the second stop for this series, which is traveling to more than a dozen cities in the United States and Canada. James Quandt, who organized it for the Cinematheque Ontario, will give an introduction before Wednesday's screening of "Taboo."

The films coincide with the Walker's exhibition of Japanese visual artist Tetsumi Kudo. Like Kudo and other artists of his generation, Oshima was profoundly influenced by World War II and its traumatic transformation of Japanese society.

Born in 1932, he acquired an interest in socialism and communism from his father, who died when he was 6. Oshima spent his college years applying himself to student activism. By the time he started directing films, his political ideals were firmly rooted, and he was fervently committed to the use of film as a form of protest against the establishment. Stylistically, he strove to reinvent himself with every film as a way of reflecting a changing reality. From the staid long shots of "Night and Fog in Japan" to the rapid-fire editing and disorienting angles of "Violence at Noon," no two Oshima films are alike.

Always an outsider, Oshima felt conflicted by his inclusion into a larger movement. Not only did he spurn the nomenclature of the "Japanese New Wave," but dismissed Japanese cinema as a whole, particularly the national identity supported by Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu and Mikio Naruse. Oshima's experimentation and political leanings also lumped him with Jean-Luc Godard, but Oshima rejected the notion of influence while emphasizing his individuality and personal rebellion.

He gravitated toward social outcasts and rebel elements in his films because that is how he came to see himself as a filmmaker. "To make films is a criminal act in this world," he proclaimed in a 1965 essay. The statement only seems naïve if you haven't seen his films. His critiques of society were distilled through such characters as the sexual deviants of "In the Realm of the Senses" and "Diary of a Shinjuku Thief" and the violent criminals of "Violence at Noon" and "Death by Hanging." He saw these acts of aberration as an individual's last grasp toward human dignity amid the meaningless flow of life.

Oshima suffered a stroke in 1996 only to rebuild his health enough to shoot "Taboo" in 1999. Tragically, he suffered another stroke after finishing it and is now confined to his home outside Tokyo; it seems unlikely that he will direct again. Individually astonishing and collectively exemplary, his films have long awaited such a grand staging.

BEST BETS

"Taboo" (1999): Oshima's most accessible film is the one dealing with love among the samurai. Homoeroticism aside, it instantly looks familiar as a samurai period drama with some of Japan's biggest stars, including a stern-faced Takashi (Beat) Kitano. (7 p.m. Wed.)

"Violence at Noon" (1966): A disturbing story of a serial rapist is the backdrop for what was the most highly edited work in Japanese cinema. The jump cuts between extreme-angle and zoom shots paint a fragmented portrait of the rapist, his wife and his victim. (2 p.m. Nov. 8.)

"Boy" (1969): Ripped from the tabloid headlines, the story is often compared to "400 Blows." Grifters exploit their son through fake accidents to fund their hollow middle-class life. (7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 .)

"Death by Hanging" (1968): Presenting itself as a documentary, this sinks into a dark absurdist comedy of a botched execution. Although Oshima uses the film to oppose capital punishment and prejudice against ethnic Koreans in Japan, it is full of parable and far-reaching themes. (2 p.m. Nov. 16. )

"The Ceremony" (1971): This family saga is formal in style, but radical in its attacks on Japanese tradition. Oshima fearlessly exposes the collective skeletons in the closet of a powerful yet morally conflicted family. (2 p.m. Nov. 22.)

"Diary of a Shinjuku Thief" (1968): A provocative romp. Oshima's preoccupation with personal liberation and public rebellion collide in a surreal mix of sex, crime, politics and disenfranchised youth. (2 p.m. Nov. 23.)

KATHIE SMITH