This is Shûji
Terayama’s surreal vision of a world where children rule. Adults
exist only for the amusement of the children. They are to be incarcerated
or killed for any number of violations, including impeding the pleasure
of children. Filmmaker Terayama's depiction of a world controlled
by children is as ill-conceived and juvenile as the concept itself.
Essentially this is a collection of random, fleeting set-pieces as
perceived through the wide-eyes of a child with a limited attention
span. The kids, armed with guns, knives and paint, rape women, abuse
men and attempt to eliminate any signs of the adult world. They often
look like they have no idea why they're doing something, but appear
to be anxious to do the next thing. There are numerous interpretations
of Terayama's revolutionary movie. Generally, it has been explained
as a "surrealist attack on Japanese culture, war, and state policies
and oppression of the times. It affirms the idea of sex as power with
control over people, the policies of violence and fascism, and the
new (or young) overthrowing the old."
There also exists
an infuriating argument that the movie should be banned as child porn.
Terayama was not interested in pornography [which he considered a
tool of state oppression] but in creating a vision of erotic utopia.
Yes, there are naked children in the film. And some of them rape women.
And some have weird half-baked sexual fantasies about assaulting adults.
The movie was made in answer to Nazi Holocaust camps, the atomic bomb,
the rape of Nanking, the Vietnam war etc. Young Terayama lived
through the firebombs that destroyed his town, leaving charred bodies
of women and children littered about when he was 9 years old.
Shuji Terayama
was a poet, playwright, novelist, artist and filmmaker. International
avant-garde art circles treat Mr Terayama like a god although, in
the USA, his work remains largely unknown. Mr Shuji Terayama died
from Nephrotic Syndrome, May 1983, at age 47. But his experimental,
radical vision continues to live through motion pictures [BOXER,
SCANDALOUS
ADVENTURES OF BURAIKEN, FRUITS
OF PASSION: STORY OF O, et al], through his plays [Hunchback
of Aomori, Lemmings to the End of the World,
etc], and through his collection of SHORT
EXPERIMENTAL FILMS.
Lastly, there
are two different versions of this film. An edited print, running
a mere 28 minutes, and this one, uncut at 72 minutes. It is a black
and white production that has been sepia-tinted. The image purposely
looks washed-out and polarized [in places] to give the
impression of being an 'underground' or 'smuggled' film.
A Japanese film with English subtitles;
uncut version (72 mins)
fullscreen format, DVDs encoded for ALL REGION NTSC,
playable on any American DVD machine.
Extras include Terayama trailers.
Violence/Coming
of Age/Rape/Nudity
For Adult Audiences
