Evidently
men will be cheating dogs, even when their tastes run towards transvestite prostitutes
in prim and proper 1960s Japan. As a case in point, Gonda, the Yakuza manager
of the Club Jenet is carrying on affairs with both the Madam, Leda and their
star attraction, Eddie. This inevitably leads to trouble in the Toshio
Matsumoto’s aesthetically raucous, thematically transgressive, freshly 4K
restored 1969 underground film, Funeral
Parade of Roses (trailer
here),
which opens tomorrow in New York.
Taboos
will be shattered and fourth walls will be broken. Eddie and his fellow “gay-boys”
as they refer to themselves in the translated subtitles live pretty unapologetic,
hedonistic lives. He will even admit as much when he occasionally drops his
screen persona for pseudo-documentary interview segments. In the ostensive
narrative, they are more defiant than proud, taking perverse pleasure in
flaunting their deviations from the staid norm.
However,
we can tell from the fragmentary flashbacks, Eddie has both daddy and mommy
issues. The former absconded before he really had a chance to know him, whereas
he killed the latter. Apparently, he got away with it. Yet, the threat of
violence always looms over his head, especially with respect to his rivalry
with Leda.
While
issues of sexuality are clearly front-and-center throughout Parade, it can also be appreciated as a
ribald exercise in avant-garde filmmaking. To put things in perspective, a character
literally quotes Jonas Mekas. Yet, the tone often suggests late 1960s Godard
and the sense of humor is not so far removed from the Zuckers. Matsumoto plays
with cartoon-style dialogue balloons, talking heads interrupting the moments of
high drama to offer their commentary, and wild, drug-fueled parties that would
not be out of place in 1970s AIP hippy exploitation movies, all of which are
incorporated in the wildest kitchen sink riff on Oedipus Rex probably ever attempted.
If
you can keep up with the tonal shifts and go-for-broke gamesmanship, Peter (or
Pîtâ) as he is simply billed, is eerily compelling as the damaged and reckless
Eddie. His characters flaws are tragically manifest, but Peter is an eye
magnet, who you simply cannot turn away from. Something like a Japanese Ru
Paul, Peter would have a long career a performer on variety shows and a fair
number of films, even portraying the fool in Kurosawa’s Ran. Kurosawa regular Yoshio Tsuchiya (Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, etc.) is also vividly
sleazy and unflaggingly suggestive of danger as the predatory Gonda.