Oedipus2.0003_Matsumoto

Funeral Parade of Roses (Bara no sôretsu), feature-length motion picture, 1969, Japan (dir. and screenplay Toshio Matsumoto)

A remarkable adaptation of the Oedipus myth finds Eddie grappling for awareness of personal identity. Seen by some critics as highly "subversive and intoxicating" (Kanopy), the film certainly does take a deep dive into 1969 Tokyo's gay-boy culture.

An early acknowledgement of the Oedipus myth — an overt display of movie posters promoting P.P.Pasolini's Edipo Re (=Oedipus2.0002_Pasolini) — renders us a "knowing viewers" in a powerful mythological adaptation. By film's end, the pieces of the familiar source-narrative play in a gut-wrenching surprise. The exploration of big-city Japanese culture provides a social landscape where one might not have expected the Oedipus myth to make such a decisive traverse.