FILM: Funeral Parade Of Roses

by RICHARD SMIRKE
Metro
21st July 2008

Photo at foot of page

Funeral Parade Of Roses Reportedly a huge influence on Stanley Kubrick and his 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, Toshio Matsumoto's 1969 Japanese feature, Funeral Parade Of Roses, is a bizarre quasi-experimental drama set within the seedy underbelly of 1960s Tokyo.

It tells the story of Eddy, a popular young transvestite who embarks on an affair with a bar manager in the city's gay ghetto following the violent death of his mother. Ostensibly a queer psychedelic revamp of the Oedipus myth, Matsumoto's remarkable film was virtually unknown outside Japan for three decades until it was reissued on DVD earlier this century. Since then, the movie has quickly earned a reputation as a forgotten masterpiece, with tributes and home-made re-edits springing up all over the internet.

Shot in lucid black and white and mixing film styles with a furious energy, Funeral Parade Of Roses skilfully blends a heavily fractured narrative and acres of nudity, drugs, violence and sex into a visceral art-house joyride that still mystifies 40 years after its original release. In a postmodern twist, Matsumoto also incorporates interviews with his cast into the narrative. The film may not be easy to follow, but it's impossible to forget.

Running time: 107min

Thu, Jul 24, Star And Shadow Cinema, Stepney Bank, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 7.30pm, £4, £3 concs. Tel: 0191 261 0066. Metro: Manors. www.starandshadow.org.uk

_________________
http://www.spinwatch.org/