Funeral Parade of Roses

Funeral Parade of Roses (薔薇の葬列, Bara no Sōretsu) is a 1969 Japanese surrealist experimental drama arthouse film directed and written by Toshio Matsumoto. It loosely adapts the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, and is set in the underground gay culture of 1960s Tokyo. It stars Peter as the protagonist, a young transgender woman, and features Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshio Tsuchiya and Emiko Azuma. A product of the Japanese New Wave, the film combines elements of arthouse, documentary, and experimental cinema. It is theorized to have influenced Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange (although many of the points of comparison can also be found in earlier movies such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Love Is Colder Than Death). The film was released by A.T.G. (Art Theatre Guild) on 13 September 1969 in Japan; however, it did not receive a United States release until 29 October 1970. Matsumoto's previous film For My Crushed Right Eye contains some of the same footage and could be interpreted as a trailer for Funeral Parade. In June 2017, it received a 4K restoration and a limited theatrical re-release. In 2020, it received a limited edition Blu-ray release from the British Film Institute in the UK. It is now widely regarded as one of the best movies out of the Japanese New Wave, as well as a landmark and masterpiece of queer cinema.