Cinema: Give The Rating System an X

Directors and moguls wrangle over the movies' scarlet letter

You've heard a lot about these new X-rated movies, and you want to know what all the rumpus is about. So you go to The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover and find that it's mostly about unpleasant people arguing at the dinner table. You figure you can get that at home for free, so you check out Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! and wait for the big sex scene. Sorry. The lovers are fond and tender, and they don't even get slaughtered at the end. You visit The Killer, a Hong Kong melodrama rated X for violence....

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