Funeral Parade of Roses
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Funeral Parade of Roses is a 1969 Japanese film directed by Toshio Matsumoto. It is a loose adaptation of Oedipus Rex set in the underground gay counterculture of 1960s Tokyo. The film was released by ATG (Art Theatre Guild) on 13 September 1969 in Japan; however, it did not receive a US release until October 29, 1970. Matsumoto's earlier film For My Crushed Right Eye contains some of the same footage and could almost be seen as a trailer for Funeral Parade of Roses, although a true trailer was also made.
An important work of the Japanese New Wave, Funeral Parade of Roses combines elements of arthouse, documentary and experimental cinema.
The film was a major influence on Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange.
Plot
The film follows the trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Tokyo. The title is a pun, "rose"/"Bara" in Japanese is similar to the use of the word "pansy" in English slang.
Cast
- Pîtâ as Eddie
- Osamu Ogasawara as Leda
- Yoshio Tsuchiya as Gonda
- Emiko Azuma as Eddie's mother
- Toyosaburo Uchiyama as Guevera
- Don Madrid as Tony
- Koichi Nakamura as Juju
- Chieko Kobayashi as Okei
- Shōtarō Akiyama as himself
- Kiyoshi Awazu as himself
Production
The film was set and shot in Tokyo.
