Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Company: Cinelicious Pics
Starring: Peter, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Emiko
Azuma
My Review and Thoughts:
My Rating:
The Film: 5 out of 5
The Product: 5 out of 5
Cinelicious Pics has brought out a flawless Blu-ray. A wonderful transfer. A beautiful restoration. A wonderful array of special features. This is clearly one of the best products to come out this year. I highly recommend this Blu-ray for any diehard movie lover.
Cinelicious Pics has brought out a flawless Blu-ray. A wonderful transfer. A beautiful restoration. A wonderful array of special features. This is clearly one of the best products to come out this year. I highly recommend this Blu-ray for any diehard movie lover.
This odd and strange New Wave film came out in 1969. This is
a priceless example of perfected, Cult status cinema. This wild over the top little tour-de-force piece of Queer Cinema, truly makes the
viewer take a trip into a world of far out realities. From Japanese’s Drag
Queen bars, to drunken art house style of cinema.
This truly is a one of a kind experience. An experience that
showcases a somewhat dream like state. An arthouse landscape of a vibrant work
of art come to life. This 105 minutes is a visual ecstasy of light
and dark visuals. A pure avant-garde mastery that must be seen to be fully
understood, or fully appreciated. Toshio Matsumoto gave the world an inner
quality that he could only create. A mind showcasing a pure one of kind bliss.
To be honest this is a one of kind experience. This Blu-ray also comes with 8
Avant-Garde Short Films.
It’s hard to write a review and express what Funeral Parade
of Roses is about. It’s hard to express on paper in written form the experience
one gets from this art-house journey of mythical exploration. This is something that must be experienced to fully grasp the importance and mastery
quality that it is.
Funeral Parade of Roses and all the 8 short films are
directed and written by Toshio Matsumoto. Sadly, this genius and master of Avant-Garde
New Wave film passed away this year on April 12th, 2017. His 85
years at life was a pure treat for lovers of truly special, one of a kind, and
very original pieces of cinema. You must realize the time this film came out
in. It’s 1969 and it’s Japan. This film depicted homosexual imagery which was
unheard of at the time. The frank nature of this film is controversial for its
moment in time in 1969. Watching it now I am floored this movie was able to
appear. Toshio Matsumoto directed 6 Documentary Shorts, 24 short films and 4
feature Films in his career. His talent is above and beyond many directors. I
think the cinema world or those who want to be directors should view Matsumoto’s
work.
The plot of the film follows and displays the ups and downs
of a character known as Eddie, who is a young gay boy, and also other transvestites
located in Tokyo. You visit the bars and streets and actions of this wild crew
of unique individual. This experimental style film stands out in the eye-opening
reality of watching what seems like true life unfold on screen. The mixture of
arthouse, and documentary style of film making shines in all it’s retro glory. Now
for an interesting note is this film influenced one of the all time greatest
directors in cinema, Stanley Kubrick. This film influenced a great deal for the
1971 masterpiece, A Clockwork Orange.
Audio/Video:
My Rating: 5 out of 5
The audio and video are spot on perfection. Crystal clear in
sound. Crisp imagery. A perfect blend of perfection. Never seeing this before I
can’t compare it to anything, but trust me when I say, this film is mastered in
complete perfection. The Blu-ray is spot-on clear in audio and video.
4k Restoration from the original 35mm camera Negative.
Format: Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Number of discs: 2
Extras:
My Rating: 5 out of 5
· Avant-Garde Short Films
·
Audio Commentary by Chris D.
·
Us Theatrical Trailer
·
Original 1969 Japanese Trailer
·
A booklet with a new Essay by Hirofumi Sakamoto
Director of Postwar Japan Moving Image Archive. 16 pages with pictures.
Overall:
This moving masterpiece of Arthouse art should be owned and
experienced by all lovers of cinema. It is an important piece of film. It’s
mastery in image and actions lead the viewer into a realm of only an
Avant-Garde style film can be. Truly dramatic, and plainly put, a masterpiece of
art come to life on screen.
Cinelicious pics has brought out an important and flawless
example of a Special Edition Blu-ray that is by far one of the best products of
year.
INFO:
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