Bara no sôretsu (Funeral Parade of Roses), Toshio Matsumoto, Japan, 1969, 105 min DCP 4K, OV JAP-EN, Sub ES
Remastered 4K DCP. International re-release at the 2018 Rotterdam Film Festival, Deep Focus.
A club kid named Eddie suffers bloody hallucinations in which his mother and father appear. Matsumoto combines the story of Eddie, based on the myth of Oedipus but changing the sex (here, the son kills the mother and sleeps with the father), with all manner of pop and psychedelic improvisations. It is shot in black and white and combines elements of art cinema, documentary and experimental cinema.
Toshio Matsumoto is one of the pioneers of avant-garde cinema in Japan and Bara no sôretsu is one of the emblematic films of the Japanese New Wave. This adaptation of Oedipus Rex looks into the sleazy hidden corners of the Tokyo underground gay scene of the 1960s, marked by drugs, violence and marginality.
In 2018, it was restored in 4K from the negatives in 35mm and re-released at the Rotterdam Festival 2018.
Toshio Matsumoto is one of the pioneers of avant-garde cinema in Japan and Bara no sôretsu is one of the emblematic films of the Japanese New Wave.