Just out of interest, have you seen the film? I'd love to discuss it on here; tried searching but got nothing, so I guess it doesn't have a discussion already...
One thing to consider if you haven't seen any other Oshima films is that he's not trying to create a film that reads so much as a story or character "study" (meaning something that rewards you when you study the characters?) as an aesthetic*. I read a comment of Oshima's from I think the 60s or 70s where he was on a kick to re-imagine Japan by "banishing" greens from his compositions. This may have been referring to In the Realm of Senses.
About the title, it could be that I'm forgetting something significant, but I don't remember much emphasis on the taboo nature of the situation in the film, it seemed more to be about everyone being physically attracted to that one character and the object of their affections being basically sinister and laying some sort of inscrutable trap for them using sexual desire. In that sense it kind of reminds me of certain femme fatale characters like Linda Fiorentino's in The Last Seduction.
There are some similarities and differences both in the movies and in my reactions to them. In Seduction the character's motivation is ultimately readable, in Taboo the character is opaque (I'm pretty sure) even after the plot has been revealed. I don't know if you can say one is better than the other on this basis alone though. If the point is how people can be seduced by surface alone is it necessary or even desirable to even show the mundane self-interest lurking beneath or is it enough just to convey readable malicious intent and deception/self-deception? I guess one gets you wrapped in the characters by revealing more and is therefor more memorable (at least to me) but I'm not sure which approach I admire more. I would have to re-watch Oshima's film before even considering committing to either approach.
You might want to check out Oshima's In the Realm of Senses which is about similar sensual obsessions but from what I've seen of it (about the first half hour) seemed to be a little more engaging. It also was a lot more explicit in the sex dept. I think.
Any of this help a-tall?
*note that these ideas don't have to be mutually exclusive but it's possible that the director wanted to emphasize the latter by reducing or sublimating the former.
Last edited by linespalsy; 11-12-07 at 10:53 PM.