You Should Probably Expect Some ‘Sex & Zen’ Protests
A couple of months ago, "3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy" became the largest grossing movie of all-time in Hong Kong, passing "Avatar," which kept all its 3-D sex offscreen. "3-D porn" has always been an object of fascination (and, potentially, repulsion) for audiences, and with the "success" of that film, distributors decided to bring the film to America, to see how it'd work out here. That's happening later this year. After reading The Hollywood Reporter's review of the film, we're betting the sex will be the least of its problems.
Reviewer Elizabeth Kerr drew the short stick, so to speak, and had to review the film, and on the whole, she's nicer than you might expect. She emphasizes that the film is not hardcore pornography; it's Cinemax all the way, complete with a soundtrack "heavy with breathless, whiny squeaks and squeals from the
girls, leaving one to wonder if anyone involved in the production has
ever engaged in any form of sexual activity with real human females."
At first, it's funny just to see the words "in-your-face boobies" and "floating schlong" in The Hollywood Reporter, but then Kerr gets to her final paragraph, when she describes a scene that probably isn't going to play well in America. (And probably shouldn't play well anywhere.)
After divorcing her husband for his dalliances, Yuxiang is raped by what
seems to be a local handyman, sending her into her own miserable abyss.
That she is raped is bad enough, but the fetishizing of it — really,
just keep raping her and eventually she'll like it — is the real issue.
Add to that scads of sexual violence against women (for the most part),
endless torture devices (is that a vibrator or a giant drill bit Yuxiang
is forced onto?) and Ning literally killing a woman with sex, the
overall tone becomes intensely unpalatable.
Yeah, see, that's not gonna work here. They're going to have to cut that scene for the American release, right? And, uh, shouldn't have they cut it before the Hong Kong release? Americans may or may not be ready for 3-D soft core porn in the theater. But they're definitely not gonna be down with fetishizing rape scenes. Look out: This movie could become a bigger deal than we thought.
3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy: Film Review [The Hollywood Reporter]
