Funeral Parade of Roses

Funeral Parade of Roses is a loose adaptation of the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex that explores the underground gay scene in 1960s Tokyo. We follow Eddie, the trans extraordinaire at local gay club Genet, as they fight over a head mistress position at the club, as they junk it with local experimental filmmakers, and as they sex it with lovers.

A sleazy and unapologetically stylish story, Funeral Parade of Roses blends the fictional narrative of Eddie and Leda and Gonda, with non-fictional interviews with the actors who play them, as well as with other members of the subculture. Alongside both the documentarian approach to storytelling and its more narrative formal partner, there’s also something experimental: fragmentary images edited together for their emotional and psychological impact rather than their narrative import.

Funeral Parade of Roses is a product of the Japanese New Wave Art Theatre Guild (ATG), a production company that inspired and intertwined the most significant avant-garde currents transforming Japanese cinema of the Sixties and the Seventies. A landmark of queer cinema, the film delivers an exquisite commentary on identity and performativity. Arguably among the most undervalued films in cinematic history, one can find testament of its indisputable influence in as early as Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.

1969

105 minutes

Toshio Matsumoto

Japanese dialogue, English subtitles