Bara no soretsu (1969)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Toshio Matsumoto

Writer:

Toshio Matsumoto (writer)

Release Date:

29 October 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan. |

Plot Keywords:

Japan | Marijuana | Visual Hallucination | Incest | 1960s

Cast

Peter	...	Eddie
Osamu Ogasawara	...	Leda
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shotari Akiyama	...	Himself
Kiyoshi Awazu	...	Himself
Emiko Azuma	...	Eddie's Mother
Toshiya Fujita
Masato Hara		(as Masataka Hara)
Shinno Ikehata
Chieko Kobayashi	...	Okei
Hosei Komatsu	...	Male Prostitute
Don Madrid	...	Tony
Koichi Nakamura	...	Juju
Yukio Ninagawa	...	Himself
Masahiro Shinoda	...	Himself
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Gonda
Toyosaburo Uchiyama	...	Guevera
Jiro Yagi	...	Himself
Nagaharu Yodogawa	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Funeral Parade of Roses (literal English title)
Funeral Procession of Roses (USA)
Parade of Roses

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (2006)

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Art Theatre Guild

Movie Connections:

Featured in Expansion - Kakuchou (1972)

The search for love, identity and place in a Tokyo bar is a one of the great "unknown" films of cinema

Eddie is a transvestite hostess at one of Tokyo's clubs. He/she spends her time working, being in the films of a friend, taking drugs and trying to find love.

Said to be one of Stanley Kubrick's favorite films and a big influence on Clockwork Orange this is probably one of the best films most people have never seen. Released in 1969 this film is as fresh and shattering as it must have been back when it was made. Set in a "Gay" world this is actually a movie about people and how they act and feel, the fact that they are gay is irrelevant. These are real people in a real world that seems to be happening now instead of when it was made (due no doubt to the stunning black and white photography). The film uses just about every 1960 "art film" technique you can think of and does so better than any film in from Europe ever did (Buñuel, and Bergman should have been this successful). Interviews of the cast, sudden juxtaposition of scenes, shifts in tone and style, sudden bursts of violence, all blend together to tell a story of a search for identity and place that is in its way universal, even if its outcome is not.

This is a movie that is simple to explain, but difficult to sum up. The effect of it being somewhat greater than the simplicity of the storyline.

See this movie. This is one of those movies that movie lovers should search out.

9 out of 10 (Because to be honest I'm not sure if I'm more in love with the technique or the film itself- though either way its a great film)