Funeral Parade of Roses

Capturing the fervour of 1960s counterculture in Shinjuku, Tokyo, this representative Japanese queer film is delightfully chaotic. Bar Genet’s new star hostess is the transgender icon Eddie, whose confidence and sexuality threaten the bar’s long-time madame Leda, but attract Gonda, the bar’s owner. While Eddie becomes entangled in this love triangle, she spends her time with joint-smoking drop-outs, watches experimental films, dances to distorted rock music and occasionally gets involved in protests. Matsumoto described the film’s structure and form as like dropping a mirror on the floor and picking up the broken pieces. 

With the screening of this new 4K digital restoration of the film, made from the original 35mm negative, we celebrate the life of its director, Matsumoto Toshio. Having recently passed away, his influence on Japanese documentary film, experimental film and film criticism remains deeply felt.

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