"A jeweler's daughter is kidnapped, rescued, and nabbed again - and all because the Black Lizard, female thief, is out to get that fabulous diamond, the Star of India. "Surrealist and absurdist as only a Japanese film could be, Kurotokage features wonderfully horrible excesses - screams in the night, bodies hidden in brocade couches, death by snakebite, and poetic passwords such as 'The pomegranate's rind is shattered!' - not to mention a bizarre performance by a great female impersonator, Maruyama, and the appearance of Yukio Mishima." --Sybil Thornton