Synopsis
"A carnivalesque melding of documentary verité and avant-garde psychedelia,
Funeral Parade of Roses offers a shocking and ecstatic journey through the nocturnal underworld of Tokyo's Shinjuku neighborhood, following the strange misadventures of a rebellious drag queen fending off his/her rivals. Often cited as a major inspiration for
Kubrick's
A Clockwork Orange, Matsumoto's breakthrough film is a visually audacious and lyrically abstract testament to the vertiginous daring of the post-war Japanese avant-garde art and film scenes.
Matsumoto orchestrates a series of quite astonishing visual set pieces, including actual performances by the influential
Fluxus-inspired street theater groups, the
Zero Jigen and
Genpei Akasegawa." – Harvard Film Archive
