Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.5

Funeral Parade of Roses Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 27, 2017

Toshio Matsumoto's "Funeral Parade of Roses" (1969) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinelicious Pics. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film; eight short films; an exclusive new audio commentary by author and film historian Chris Desjardin. The release also arrives with a 14-page illustrated booklet featuring Hirofumi Sakamoto's essay "The Shape of the Avant-Garde", information about the short films, and technical credits. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

In the club

There isn’t an easy way to accurately describe Toshio Matsumoto’s Funeral Parade of Roses because it is one of those rare films that basically exist in a category of their own. Additionally, it is quite possibly the most un-Japanese film to emerge from the 1960s.

Funeral Parade of Roses carries at least three different identities and enthusiastically exchanges them as it attempts to earn the admiration of its audience. The first is that of an unorthodox eye-opener that occasionally loosens up a bit but remains determined to lift the veil that is hiding an underground world that only a small number of people in Tokyo are aware of. In this parallel reality many young gay boys and drag queens celebrate their freedom and have wild adventures that frequently make Tokyo look like the decadent Eternal City that the great Federico Fellini immortalized in his classic films. However, here the directness and rawness of the material effectively counter the Fellini-esque ambience and actually make it necessary to draw comparisons to one of the most influential documentaries from the 1960s, Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch’s Chronicle of a Summer, and acknowledge the fact that the fascinating exchanges between the ‘stars’ and the man behind the camera are done in pretty much the same manner that the French filmmakers conduct their interviews on the streets of Paris.

There is a part of this film that also openly aspires to be funny and naughty, and it is generally where its charm comes from. This is also the part where the authenticity is gradually toned down in favor of more conventional character developments that ultimately allow the film’s Oedipal story to evolve. So the more the gap between the raw and scripted footage widens, the quirkier the film becomes.

At its core, however, Funeral Parade of Roses is very much a New Wave rebel, though, quite interestingly, having a lot more in common with Jean-Luc Godard's bold form benders than Koji Wakamatsu's radical shockers or Shohei Imamura's sizzling satires. Naturally, almost immediately after the opening credits disappear Matsumoto goes to work and does a number of interesting things to force the audience to ponder the structure of the film and then even its sanity. (Basically, the bulk of the material is cinematic freestyling, but done with the awareness that its ultimate goal is to shed light on the parallel reality in which the film’s characters reside).

*Also included on this release are eight recently restored avant-garde short films from Matsumoto that further reveal his desire to be an original provocateur. Completed between 1961 and 1975, these short films blend passion for cinematic freedom of expression and hunger for a profound transformation of film’s ability to energize the minds of filmgoers. They are:

1. Nishijin (1961, 25 min).

2. The Song of Stone (1963, 24 min).

3. Ecstasis (1969, 11 min).

4. Metastasis (1971, 8 min).

5, Expansion (1972, 14 min).

6. Mona Lisa (1973, 3 min).

7. Siki Soku Z Ku (1975, 8 min).

8. Atman (1975, 11 min).

Funeral Parade of Roses Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Toshio Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinelicious Pics.

Please note that the screencaptures that are included with our review appear in the following order:

1. Screencaptures# 1-22: Funeral Parade of Roses.
2. Screencaptures# 25-26: Nishijin
3. Screencaptures# 27-28: Ecstasis
4. Screencaptures# 29-30: The Song of Stone
5. Screencaptures# 31-32: Metastasis
6. Screencaptures# 33-34: Expansion
7. Screencaptures# 35-36: Mona Lisa
8. Screencaptures# 37-38: Siki Soku Z Ku
9. Screencaptures# 39-40: Atman

I found this release to be quite frustrating because I think that it should have been one of the year's all-around best packages. However, it feels like two different groups of people worked on it and a few of them were not on the same page.

First, the good news. Funeral Parade of Roses is sourced from a top-notch 4K restoration and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it will be the go-to source for this film for years to come. Indeed, while I did not attend a theatrical screening of it in my area, it is extremely easy for me to tell that the work that was done was of exceptionally high-quality. The film looks fresh, spotless, and has all the right qualities that I expect to see after a competent recent 4K restoration. No complaints.

The bad news. The 4K restoration's transition to Blu-ray is flawed. Basically, it appears that the data was input incorrectly and as a result on the surface of the film there is plenty of chroma noise. I don't know precisely how this was done, but I can tell with absolute certainty that it is not a byproduct of the restoration. (As mentioned above, it is hugely impressive). So this adds up a layer of greenish chroma noise on top of the visuals that can create blotches and even affect the film's black/gray/white balance and dynamic range. The effect is especially obvious during the darker footage where instead of proper black(s) the chroma noise would flatten the image and produce a grayish/greenish veil. Here are a couple of examples: See the inside of the suitcase where the blotches pop up in screencapture #17; see the chroma all over screencapture #9 and the right side of screencapture #13; you can even see the chroma all over the well-lit face in screencapture #19.

All else looks great. Grain appears as nicely exposed and resolved as it should be. Density is great. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Image stability is also excellent. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Funeral Parade of Roses Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

It immediately becomes obvious that the audio has been fully remastered. It is clean, wonderfully balanced, and completely free of distracting age-related imperfections. Because of the nature of the film during some of the mass scenes some unevenness does exist, but it is part of the original organic sound design. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report.

Funeral Parade of Roses Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• New Trailer - presented here is a new 2017 U.S. theatrical trailer for Funeral Parade of Roses. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (3 min).

• Original Trailer - presented here is a vintage Japanese trailer for Funeral Parade of Roses from 1969. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (4 min).

• Commentary - in this new audio commentary, author and film historian Chris Desjardins (Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film) provides a wonderful deconstruction of Funeral Parade of Roses and discusses the era and socio-cultural environment in which the film emerged. There are plenty of very interesting observations about the film's fluid visual style as well (see the moving elevator sequence). The commentary was recorded exclusively for Cinelicious Pics.

• Short Films - all eight short films are placed on a separate Blu-ray disc. See additional comments in the main review.

• Booklet - 14-page illustrated booklet featuring Hirofumi Sakamoto's essay "The Shape of the Avant-Garde", information about the short films, and technical credits.

Funeral Parade of Roses Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Toshio Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses carries at least three different identities and enthusiastically exchanges them as it attempts to earn the admiration of its audience. It is a fascinating time capsule and yet, oddly enough, it is one of the most un-Japanese films from the 1960s because there simply isn't another one quite like it. Thanks to Cinelicious Pics Funeral Parade of Roses now has its first ever legit American home video release, but I found the technical presentation quite frustrating. The 4K restoration is really fabulous, but it does not look as good as it should on Blu-ray. My advise to you is to wait for a sale and try to find an attractive price to justify a purchase. RECOMMENDED (but with many reservations).