#Toshie Iwasa

[sesiondemadrugada]

Demons (Toshio Matsumoto, 1971).

[lifejustgotawkward]

365 Day Movie Challenge (2019) - #31: Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) - dir.  Toshio Matsumoto

A couple of weekends ago, I went to the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s double feature of Funeral Parade of Roses and The Crying Game, shown as part of “Beyond the Canon.” BAM describes the ongoing series thusly: “It is no secret that the cinema canon has historically skewed toward lionizing the white, male auteur. This monthly series seeks to question that history and broaden horizons by pairing one much-loved, highly regarded, canonized classic with a thematically or stylistically-related—and equally brilliant—work by a filmmaker traditionally excluded from that discussion.“ By pairing Neil Jordan’s critically-lauded romantic thriller with Toshio Matsumoto’s revolutionary cult classic, BAM gave me the opportunity to compare and contrast two starkly different films with transgender women at the core of their respective stories.

Described by one IMDb user as “Buñuel on steroids,” Roses is unlike any other film I can think of, except for Maya Deren’s landmark short Meshes of the Afternoon. Both films play with time, memory and perspective in combination with themes of sexuality and violence. Like Deren’s unnamed character in Meshes, Roses’ protagonist's body is a site of sensuality and of aggression; no matter where these women go, specters of death are always present. And, most obviously, both directors used surrealism to make their films avant-garde statements of artistic ingenuity.

Throughout Matsumoto’s film, legendary cabaret star (and openly gay performer) Peter portrays the lead role, “Eddie,” with youthful energy and, at times, great subtlety. (As a longtime fan of Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 masterpiece, Ran, where Peter plays the Fool to Tatsuya Nakadai’s King Lear counterpart, I was already aware of Peter’s gifts an actor.) The freedom that Eddie feels to live her life as a trans woman is revelatory; going even further, Matsumoto alternates the fiction narrative of Funeral Parade of Roses with nonfiction vignettes where Peter, his co-stars and citizens on the street (the latter all identifying as either gay men or as trans women) were interviewed to discuss their authentic experiences in Japanese society in the late 1960s. The ways that Matsumoto jumps between past and present, dreams and waking life, and drama and documentary methods of storytelling demonstrate creativity that would still be considered exciting, and perhaps shocking, if made today.

It’s true that Roses has a plot, which is certainly important as far as understanding Eddie’s motivations, but it is best if you go into watching the film without knowing anything. Better to have your mind expanded by discovering this tale for yourself, as well as the beauty of Tatsuo Suzuki‘s striking cinematography and Toshie Iwasa‘s hyperkinetic editing. Even if you don’t get the chance to see Funeral Parade of Roses in a theater like I did - you can buy the film on Blu-Ray; it also airs on TCM occasionally - however you access it, I’m certain it will be an unforgettable viewing.

[byneddiedingo]

Pîtâ in Funeral Parade of Roses (Toshio Matsumoto, 1969) Cast: Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Toyosaburo Uchiyama, Don Madrid, Emiko Azuma, Yoshimi Jo, Koichi Nakamura, Flamenco Umeji, Saako Oota, Taro Manji, Mikio Shibayama, Wataru Hikonagi, Fuchisumi Gomi, Chieko Kobayashi, Yo Sato, Keiichi Takanaga. Screenplay: Toshio Matsumoto. Cinematography: Tatsuo Suzuki. Art direction: Setsu Asakura. Film editing: Toshie Iwasa. Music: Joji Yuasa. Toshio Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses both participates in and parodies the late-1960s avant-garde "underground" film movement, with its reliance on eccentric cuts and random inserts. There's a scene in which the filmmakers are shooting a badly tuned television set, and keep fiddling with the set to get the kind of distorted image they want. And at one point someone quotes the avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas -- and then gets his name wrong, calling him "Menas Jokas." Matsumoto's film keeps the viewer off-balance at all times, moving in and out of what we take to be "reality" to expose that it's all moviemaking. There is, for example, a scene in which the cross-dressing protagonist, Eddie ( Pîtâ), and a Black man, Tony (Don Madrid), seem to be having sex, with lots of pornographic gasping and facial contortions. But then the camera angle shifts and we see that there's a camera crew surrounding the bed where Tony is propped up by himself on the headboard while the camera is focused on the face of Eddie, simulating ecstasy. Even the main story of the film gets its distancing when we cut to the actor who plays Eddie, Pîtâ (or Peter, as the English language screen credits have it), being interviewed about the role he's playing. It's much like his own life, he says, except for the incest part. At this point in the film, we don't know about the incest part, which precipitates the crisis in Eddie's life. Suffice it to say that Matsumoto based a large part of the film on Oedipus Rex. The central story deals with the rivalry between Eddie and Leda (Osamu Ogasawara), the "Madame" of a club that caters to salarymen who want to sleep with gei boi, for the affections of Gonda (Yoshio Tsuchiya), a man who turns out to have more significance in Eddie's life than is at first apparent. There are some longueurs in Matsumoto's film, mostly having to do with the avant-garde sequences but also with a too-long drugged-out orgy scene. (Other people's orgies are invariably boring.) But there are some genuine shocks and some real emotion in the film, and the performance by Pîtâ -- best known as the androgynous Kyoami, the analogue to the Fool in Ran (1985), Akira Kurosawa's reworking of King Lear -- is outstanding.

[kilaracomedy]

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Happy New Year!! Thank you very much for all your support in 2017. I am a star (not physically) this year and will have much more shows& tours both in and out of Japan!! Toward 2020, I promise you to become No.1 funny Japanese woman!! I am having a show with my NY buddies, Toshi (dancer) & Mariko (Ringling Bros. Clown) on January 11th & 12th in Shibuya, Tokyo!! "Entertainment City Industry -Happy N.Y!! Special-“ 2 Nights ONLY special collaboration !! Dance, Comedy, Slapstick... and more!! Borderless Entertainment Show by three performers from New York!!!! This show will be delivered in English. Date:Jan 11 (Thu) & Jan 12 (Fri) Time : Open 7PM / Start 8PM Venue:SARAVAH TOKYO(サラヴァ東京) Access: Shibuya CROSSROAD bldg. B1F, 1-29-1 Shoto,Shibuya-ku,Tokyo Admission : 3000 yen +1drink (ADV.) 3500 yen +1drink (DOS.) ** CASTS** — kaori a.k.a Keysha Bilingual Comedian, Actress, MC. "Asia's Got Talent" (AXN), "Welcome to the Railworld" (8TV, Malaysia), "National Cherry Blossom Festival"(USA) Laugh Factory's “THE FUNNIEST PERSON IN THE WORLD” https://www.youtube.com/ user/kaoricomedy?app=desktop --Toshihiko "TOSHI" Nakazawa Dancer,Performer based in NYC. First place Ameteur NIGHT at the ApolloTheater and appered on So You Think You Can Dance. http://toshihiko-nakazawa.com/ --Mariko Iwasa Clown,Physical Comedian, Actoress and Dancer.She was performing profeissionallywith the greatest Show on earth (Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus) http://www.rossooo.com/ (at Tokyo, Japan)

[sesiondemadrugada]

Funeral Parade of Roses (Toshio Matsumoto, 1969).