02
Nov
Koji Wakamatsu films at the Cinefamily, Los Angeles
Koji Wakamatsu's United Red Army

Koji Wakamatsu's United Red Army

Some great news for LA-based Wakamatsu fans, courtesy of my old mucker Nick Rucka of Maboroshii Productions. Starting this Wednesday at the Cinemafamily with Wakamatsu’s recent United Red Army, one of my favourite Japanese films from the past few years, there’s a month full of screenings from Japanese cinema’s original subversive, including your first ever chance to get to see subbed prints of Shinjuku Mad and Running in Madness, Dying in Love, two of his lesser-known masterpieces from his 1960s heyday. Full details on the Cinefamily website, but the basic schedule is as follows:

Nov 4th: United Red Army
Nov. 6th: Shinjuku Mad & Ecstasy of the Angels
Nov. 13th: Go Go Second Time Virgin & Running in Madness, Dying in Love
Nov. 20th: Violated Angels & Violent Virgin

This is the first of many posts I hope to give you about Wakamatsu’s films – I should have another announcement ready for you tomorrow. Great to see all these works finally getting out there anyway, and I’d imagine by the end of next year, Wakamatsu’s name is going to be pretty firmly on the lips of all decent cinephiles. Don’t miss ‘em!

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Posted at 19:27 on 02 November 2009 Filed under news.
2 replies to this post
  • Ivan Denisov 03 November 2009  17:25 1

    Guess, my feelings about Wakamatsu may be called “mixed”, still I’d risk to call myself a fan. Now I’ve started to collect his French-released DVDs box-sets (they promise 15 titles including all those from LA retrospective). Got the first one already, great, even with my bad French. Can’t find any info on 3 promised titles : “Naked bullett”, “Violence without a cause” and “Woman who wanted to die”. Hope they are in Wakamatsu’s usual (disturbing and annoying but brilliant) manner.
    And hope to read more on him here.

  • Jasper 04 November 2009  12:17 2

    Hi Ivan, thanks for your post. I know, I owe you an email, but have been so busy these past months! well, whatever one thinks of Wakamatsu, he’s certainly provocative, and there’s not much else out there like his work from the 1960s. The other three films aren’t so well known in the West, so its going to be great when they do get a release. I’d imagine they’ll be other DVD releases outside of France of these films, and a touring programme in the UK is looking pretty likely for next year. I know there’s a lot of interest in him over here. The Woman Who Wanted To Die is a particularly interesting title, very experimental and odd. As for reading more about him here, well, see my next post…

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