The Sex Check
1968 · Movie · 89 min. · Japan
Ogata plays Shiro Miyagi, a sprinter with Olympic aspirations whose dreams were shattered by WWII. A broken man, he leads the dissolute life of a gigolo until a chance meeting with a fiery young athlete named Hiroko (Michiyo Yasuda, who also plays Naomi in A Fool’s Love). Realizing that she has talent as a sprinter, Miyagi sees a second chance at Olympic glory in becoming her coach. Following Miyagi’s unconventional, military-style training, Hiroko sets a record for the 100-meter dash, but her greatest hurdle proves to be a “sex check” which all professional athletes must pass. The Second Sex shows the love-hate relationship between athlete and coach as a means to explore a hypothesis about gender, androgyny, and human potential. This is, simply put, an unclassifiable film.
Direction Yasuzô Masumura
Cast Michiyo Oguso · Ken Ogata · Mayumi Ogawa · Yuzo Hayakawa · Reiko Kasahara · Yusuke Takita · Sachiko Meguro · Yuji Hayata · Fumiko Murata · Tomoo Uchida · Tazuko Niki
Soundtrack Tadashi Yamauchi
Screenplay Keiichiro Ryu · Daikichi Terauchi
Cinematography Akira Kitazaki
Original title Sekkusu chekku: Daini no sei
Also known as The Sex Check · Bisexual
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Not rated (FilmAffinity)
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