Made in 1982 by director Sogo Ishii the movie was intended as a showcase for several Japanese punk bands at the time. The movie itself has that punk rock feel to it not employing the standard narrative mode to get a story across but jumping around all over the place. It does that in spades but will that interest most viewers?
This is one of those movies where there is a slight narrative plotline but you have to dig to find it or read about it elsewhere perhaps. Set in a dystopian future (this film jumped on that bandwagon early on) it takes place in a part of town near a nuclear power plant. The young people there are rebelling against the plant racing cars, partying and jumping around to the punk rock bands they love. A secondary story involves a man seeking out the murderer of his brother who was run over. The two stories converge when they find out the man who killed the brother is the businessman who runs the power plant and his yakuza friends. That’s it in a nutshell.
The movie isn’t so much about either plotline as it is the music and the essence of what punk rock was at the time. Because of that it’s been hailed by critics and developed a huge cult following. The band featured include The Roosters, The Rockers and The Stalin. By punk standards great, by today’s standards maybe not quite. The movie jumps between the stories and musical performances by each band as the punk rockers surround them and behave like, well, punk rockers did at the time.
The film is noted for its hyper kinetic energy and anything goes style on display. Because of that critics have called it a movie ahead of its time and an original masterpiece. Today they consider it a look at a time when anything could happen and did onscreen. For me? It was annoying and most likely something that critics will enjoy more than film lovers. But I can see the historical aspect of it catching viewers.
Arrow Video has taken this release and done it up right as opposed to the more punked out versions of the past beginning with a hi def transfer of the film. Extras include a new commentary track by film expert Tom Mes, “The Punk Spirit of ’82: Sogo Ishii on BIRST CITY a new 56 minute interview with the director, “Bursting Out” an exclusive 27 minute interview with academic and independent filmmaker Yoshiharu Tezuka on jishu eiga and the making of the film, the original trailer, an image gallery, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon and for the first pressing only an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mark Player.
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