‘Funeral Parade of Roses’ or — ‘A Cock-Work Orange’?

Although I’m on the heterosexual side of the spectrum I’m a big fan of experimental gay cinema and when it goes gay I like it to be full on gay. I don’t know if it’s the inventive, often shocking, “transgressive” nature of it all or someone using film to challenge society’s taboos. Either way some really great movies have come from the world of underground gay cinema, so I was quite excited when my friend’s invited me to their place last night to watch Toshio Matsumoto’s ‘Funeral Parade of Roses’ (1969).

It, essentially, tells the story of what it is like to be part of the gay scene in Tokyo in the 1960s combined with the story of Oedipus Rex and a heavy splash of the French New Wave. So we see the lives of these young men who dress, and identify, as women and go to underground parties, a couple of orgies and experimental film nights. And this film uses a lot of different film-making techniques such as changing formats, explicit jump-cuts, montage, some Borowczyk type animation and other styles that make it obvious that they are knowingly, and almost mockingly, tipping the hat to Godard etc.

Although the biggest influence, for me, was Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin’s ‘ Chronicle of a Summer’ as, whenever it can, ‘Funeral Parade of Roses’ deconstructs itself, goes all meta on our asses, illusions are created then shattered and, at certain times, the film just sits back and blatantly comments on itself. It’s great and it is also often extraordinarily funny, this humour allowing itself to get as gloriously pretentious as it wants without the self-importance.

And then at one point, it might have been after the deconstructed anal sex scene, I said to my friends “This reminds me of Kubrick’s ‘Clockwork Orange’” to which I was told “Oh yes, this film was a big influence on Kubrick.”

“You’re kidding!”

But it’s all there as plain as can be. You know that part in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ when Alex has the speeded-up threesome on his bed? That’s from ‘Funeral Parade of Roses’, even down to the use of music and Beethoven.

‘Funeral Parade of Roses’ is fantastic and like a lot of underground gay films it might start off seeming to be dealing with sexuality but quickly starts to become about the medium of film itself. And the fact that it does so with such style, inventiveness and humour means it really flies. It also has one of the funniest, perfectly timed, meta-jokes at the end that I’ve seen in either a movie or any TV show. It’s worth it practically for that gag alone.

I can’t recommend this one highly enough.