Funeral Parade of Roses

Now, I haven't seen many Japanese films about transvestites from the 60's but I think this would definitely get into my top 5. Probably.

I picked this up out of curiosity, and the allure of a mixture of Japanese culture and the strange avant garde format. I was pretty much satisfied in both ways. The director was one Toshio Matsumoto, who I may never hear of again, but maybe not. The two leads were real life transvestites, both apparently appearing in some Kurosawa pictures around the same period. The basic story is that the two transvestites are both vying for the attentions of the owner of the club they work at, a gay gangster who peddles drugs on the sly. One of them, Eddie, and the owner make plans to get rid of Leda, the other. Meanwhile, the police are cracking down on the underworld clubs that the trio are involved in.

Unusually, the film mixes in real interviews with the cast into the fiction narrative. Eddie and Leda are both questioned frankly about their sexuality and lifestyle. A large part of the film seems to focus on sexuality and tolerance. I can't remember seeing many films about the gay/transvestite lifestyle in modern times, let alone in 60's Tokyo. There also seems to be sections where we witness a film crew filming some scenes, and watching them back in postmodern twist. There's a lot of overlapping layers to the film where fiction merges with reality.

The other striking aspect of the film is it's experimental format. On the description of the film, it states that the film was made at a time when anything was possible in cinema. This is the ethos of for the making of this film. It utilises many avant garde filmmaking techniques. Even Kubrick was impressed enough by the film that he took some tricks from the film. In one scene, the gangster is interrupted by a police raid. Hurriedly he tries to pack up and leave his office, but it is filmed in fast motion with the zippy music overlayed, just like in 'A Clockwork Orange'. It is also quite possible that Kubrick was influenced by the urban gang fights- a catfight ensues in the city centre.

While I admired the ethos of the film and enjoyed the experimental nature of the format, I didn't really engage with the characters or story that much. The story was simple and easy to follow, and the characters had elements of empathy, but it wasn't particularly satisfying drama-wise. It works best as a visually striking, experimental piece of work.

6.5/10