Funeral Parade of Roses is a 1969 experimental film directed by Toshio Matsumoto. The film is a dizzying journey into the streets of Tokyo's night-time district, where a young transgender woman named Eddie navigates her way through a tumultuous underground world of drugs, sex, and violence. The film features a mix of avant-garde aesthetics, grindhouse shocks, and documentary-like footage of real-life countercultural figures in Japan's gay subculture.
The film is composed of a series of intersecting vignettes that blur the lines between reality and fiction, featuring a mock-documentary style that highlights the lives and struggles of real-life Tokyo residents. Funeral Parade of Roses also features a number of experimental cinematic techniques, such as rapid-fire editing, split-screen visuals, and surreal imagery.
Matsumoto's depiction of the emerging Japanese gay subculture at the time was a groundbreaking move. The film explores themes of sexual identity, gender fluidity, and social conformity. Eddie, played by actor Peter, provides a complex and nuanced representation of a transgender character, questioning the conventional gender and sexual norms of society.
Funeral Parade of Roses was met with controversy upon its release due to its graphic sexual content and depictions of drug use. However, it quickly gained a cult following among the Japanese avant-garde scene and has since become a critically acclaimed classic of Japanese cinema. The film's influence can be seen in the works of subsequent Japanese filmmakers such as Sion Sono and Ryu Murakami.