This was the first feature by Toshio Matsumoto, a famous filmmaker of experimental and documentary shorts, and director-critic of the modern Japanese avant-garde theater. (He later directed Pandemonium (Shura), PFA 8/86.) Funeral Parade of Roses is a brilliant, sensational depiction of the homosexual underworld of contemporary Tokyo, with its hero, Eddie, the central attraction of a "gay-bar," the Genet. In addition to being the first Japanese film to deal with this aspect of society, it is also a modern parody of the Oedipus legend, one that ingeniously utilizes interviews with the performers in contrast to the dramatic movements of the story. A total aesthetic break with traditions is involved, with Eddie murdering his mother and winding up incumbent with his father. The fatalism of the story does not deter a spectator's amazement at the performances Matsumoto has been able to elicit from his non-professional cast, particularly the two leads. The actor, Peter, is a famous female impersonator in Tokyo, representing the emancipated, Westernized "woman" (Peter recently appeared in Ran), while Osamu Ogasawara is noted for his impersonation of the traditional, kimonoed siren. In the film they are love rivals who struggle to win the love of Gondo, manager of the Genet. Matsumoto himself steps into the film as interviewer, and Eddie's drama is continually seen against the current tide of social history in Tokyo: the hippy philosopher-rebels, the drug trade, student battles with police and the gayboys' undeclared war with Shinjuku prostitutes. Albert Johnson