WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Black Lizard (1968) 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:08.039 Hey, Welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is Rob 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:11.320 Lamb and we have a fun one. This one originally 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.560 published five thirty one, twenty twenty four. This is our 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:19.360 discussion of the super weird, super stylish nineteen sixty eight 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:24.440 super criminal ROMP Black Lizard. This is a real gem 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:30.319 from Weird Japanese Cinema. Tremendously enjoyed this one ever since 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.000 we recorded this episode. This is a film that keeps 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.479 jumping back into my mind. I keep thinking back on it. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.240 It's just so stylish, so fun, pretty much one of 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.280 a kind. So without further ado, let's dive right into 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:45.320 that episode. 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:53.760 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.680 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.880 And this is Joe McCormick. And hey, folks, I said 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:06.240 this on yesterday's episode, but I want to say again 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.240 if I sound unusual in today's episode, if I sound 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:11.399 a little hoarse, it is because I've got a bit 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:13.640 of a cold. But a bit of a cold could 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:16.840 not stop me from talking about today's movie on Weird House, 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.039 which is nineteen sixty eight's Black Lizard. 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:22.920 We should have worked it into the picture and so 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.240 that you sound like you do because a strange woman 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:30.520 with demon yellow eyes threw a constricting snake at your neck, right, 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:36.280 But it's more mundane are the causes here. But yeah, 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:40.160 we have yet another cult favorite gem from Japanese cinema today, 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.679 and it follows the traditions of Danger Diabolic in that 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:47.440 it is another super criminal film, full of style, full 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:52.200 of visual bizazz. It's campy, it's bizarre, but also I 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.480 think with a lot of interesting depth. As you dig 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.400 into it, we're going to be talking about nineteen sixty 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.160 eight's Black Lizard. Today's film is also notable in that 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:05.280 it is entirely centered around a charismatic drag performance. The 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.520 title character, Black Lizard or Chorro Tokagi, is a stylish 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:13.800 female super criminal played in this film by prominent drag performer, 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:19.440 really famous and legendary drag performer Akihiro Miwa, who will 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.840 have more information about here in a bit, but a 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.840 true legend, a cultural figure of note, and it's all 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.720 played out seriously and thoughtfully, never for a giggle in 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.720 a wink. I've seen descriptions of this film as a comedy. 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.639 I think the current Internet Movie Database summary, for example, 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.240 says it's a comedy in the summary, and I don't know. 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.080 I don't think that's one hundred percent accurate. It is 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:46.960 a tremendously fun film. It is certainly camp, but it 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:51.040 doesn't really seem to play for laughs. But again, it 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:52.440 is tremendously fun. 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.440 Yeah, there are funny things in it. It certainly has 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.760 an over the top sensibility, but I would say it 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.000 plays a lot more as kind of a serious tragic 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.480 romance and as a crime thriller more certainly more than 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.400 as a comedy. I would say it is no more 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:10.680 a comedy than Danger Diabolic as a comedy, and also 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:15.359 in Diabolic there are funny scenes and an absurd gratuitousness. 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.440 There's similar movies in a lot of ways, but neither 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.520 one really has the moment to moment focus on laughs 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:24.920 that a comedy usually does. 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.760 All right, elevator pitch for this film, I want to 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.160 approach it two ways. One, I would say it's the 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.840 forbidden love of a super criminal and an ace detective 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:39.840 realized in a stylish sixties counterculture Japanese cinema festival for 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.720 the Eyes. But I also think that there's one line 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.560 in particular in translation here. Of course, we both watched 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:50.880 it with subtitles. I don't think a dub exists, and 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:52.840 I don't think I would want the dub. I think 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.280 I would want the subtitles. But there's one great line 0:03:55.640 --> 0:04:00.480 where our main character, a CATCHI, the number one detective 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:05.280 in Japan, is speaking to Black Lizard, the super criminal, 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:08.680 and says, Black Lizard, you were an old fashioned romanticist 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.600 in this age soiled by corruption and murder. You believe 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:15.640 that crime should wear a gorgeous gown with a train 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:20.200 fifteen feet long, just like the primordial dreams of lizards. 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:21.960 Oh yeah, like those. 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.200 Yeah, And that's I mean. If you love that line, 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:29.279 you'll love this film. This film perfectly delivers on like 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:33.160 the glorious, poetic weirdness of that statement. All right now. 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.559 I wasn't able to find what I could one hundred 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:41.160 percent feel certain about concerning a trailer in Japanese or otherwise. 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.479 So what I did find was a trailer that was 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:48.360 uploaded by Brooklyn's Spectacle Theater, which I've never been to, 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.159 but it looks amazing. It's a collectively run screening space 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.400 run by movie loving volunteers, and they play a lot 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:56.880 of just great looking stuff, including some films that we've 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.680 covered on Weird House before. Like just at the time 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:01.440 of this recording, I'm like, oh, what are they playing 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:03.839 this week at this place? And they're playing Doctor of Doom, 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:08.760 which is a wonderful Mexican luchadora film that we've covered 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:11.400 in the past. So so go check them out Brooklyn 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.599 Spectacle Theater. We're going to borrow part of the trailer 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:16.920 they uploaded. Again. I'm not sure if this is part 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.280 of an original trailer part of a trailer that they made, 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:22.800 but either way, it'll give you just a little sonic 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:24.000 taste of Black Lizard. 0:05:35.800 --> 0:06:06.920 You know that I've got a hunt lifecated data on 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.120 gen Shun. 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:21.440 All right now, if you want to go out and 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.000 watch Black Lizard before proceeding with the rest of this episode. Well, 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:27.479 I'm sad to say this one is tragically hard to 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.279 find right now as of this recording, as of this moment, 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:35.360 despite the film having had an official international and US release, 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.200 even if a limited one back in nineteen sixty nine, 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.120 even though it had subsequent re releases in Japan and 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.960 and abroad over the decades to follow. It might have 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:48.279 been released on VHS at one point, as Michael Weldon, 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.880 who loved it, references a tape in his Psychotronic Video 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.719 guide book. I'm not sure if he's referring to a 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:58.000 legit tape or or you know, more of a gray 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.520 market sort of thing. But yeah, it's a real shame 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.320 because this is a fabulous film with a cult following. 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.040 It has cultural significance, historical significance as well, and it 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.279 deserves to be seen by more film fans and the 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:13.440 best quality possible. If you look around, you can find 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.040 some sources for it. But I also have to stress 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.840 that this is the nineteen sixty eight Black Lizard or 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:22.120 Coro Toakagi film, not to be confused with other films 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.920 titled Black Lizard, including an unrelated Shaw Brothers Hong Kong 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.520 film titled Black Lizard from nineteen eighty one, or a 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.880 nineteen sixty two Japanese film titled Black Lizard that is 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.360 actually an earlier adaptation of the same novel in the 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.680 same play. I've seen part of the sixty two film, 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.280 and it's also quite stylish and quite good. I was 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.720 about like twenty minutes into it before I realized, oh, 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.000 I have the wrong movie. I need to find I 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:49.680 need to look around a little art. I think the 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.240 sixty two win is actually maybe you can stream it 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:56.080 through Criterion Collection. So, but it would not be a 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.320 loss to watch the sixty two version. You're going to 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.320 hit a lot of the same plot points we're hitting here. 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.520 But we are talking about the nineteen sixty eight adaptation 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:04.200 here today. 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:06.880 Now when it comes to the sixty eight version, the 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:09.880 director is actually somebody quite familiar on Weird House. 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:14.120 That's right, it's Kenji of Fukusaku, who lived nineteen thirty 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.440 through two thousand and three. He directed nineteen seventy eight's 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:18.720 Message from Space. 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.280 Ah and nice best of the Star Wars repol. 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:23.880 Yeah, that was a one we covered early on on 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.480 Weird House, and he also directed nineteen sixty eight so 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:32.280 The Green Slime, which we covered far more recently. Both 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.640 very enjoyable films in their own distinct ways and also 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:39.640 rather different from today's entry. Yes, now, Fukusako has sixty 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.920 eight directorial credits on IMDb, and probably the big one 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:44.760 for a lot of listeners, as I've mentioned before, is 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.880 two thousand's Battle Royale, which was a huge late career 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.280 hit for him to the extent that it can. To 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.880 a casual fan, you might, you know, only focus on that. 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.480 But other films of note include at least the Japanese 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:03.240 portion of nineteen seventies Tora, Tora Tora. He apparently was 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:07.520 brought in after Kurosawa backed out nineteen seventy three's Battles 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.880 Without Honor and Humanity. He directed a number of action 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.200 yakuza and samurai movies, as well as the high budget 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.360 nineteen eighty sci fi film Virus, which featured a host 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.120 of Japanese and American actors. He also directed the two 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.600 thousand and two video game like PlayStation video game clock 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:27.760 Tower three, which I think I did play, and in 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.800 doing so, this was my earliest exposure to Fukusaku's work. 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:33.760 Is that like a horror game? 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.240 Yeah, if it's the one I'm thinking of, there's a 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:40.959 lot of like creeping around and trying to avoid like killers, 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.559 you know, like mass killers that you can't actually directly 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.439 stand again, So in a way, it's kind of a 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.320 similar vibe to like the Alien Isolation game that came 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:52.800 many many years later. I don't remember anything about it 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:56.640 where I'm like, oh wow. Of course Fukusaku was involved 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.719 in this, you know anyway. Fukusaku's a director, often a 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.400 so siated with the Japanese new wave cinema movement of 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.880 the sixties and seventies, but he was also a big 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.960 commercial success, highly acclaimed both in Japan and by filmmakers 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.400 around the world. I've seen the likes of Tarantino, Paul 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.720 Schraeder and others talk about how much they admire his work. 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:19.040 All right now, in terms of the writing here, they'll 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:22.720 basically be like three levels because the original source for 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:27.240 this is a novel by Rampo ed Ogawa, who lived 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:31.360 eighteen ninety four through nineteen sixty five. This was the 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:37.560 pen name of Japanese author Tero Hirari crafted This pen name, 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:43.240 Rampo Edugawa was apparently crafted to resemble Edgar Allan Po 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.480 or Po, Edgar Allan So PO. Edgar Allan Rampo ed 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:52.199 Ogawa So and Edgar Allan Po, along with Arthur Conan 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.160 Doyle and others, were our big influence on Rampo's work. 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:58.880 I have to admit I was really not familiar with 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.760 Rampo prior to this. I don't know if you'd ever 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.640 run across discussion of his work before. 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.760 Joe possibly, but not that I recall. 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.679 Okay, Yeah, apparently a huge name in the world of 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.920 Japanese mystery, detective and horror fiction, known for such works 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.760 as The Boy Detective's Club, The Fiend with Twenty Faces, 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.120 and of course The Black Lizard. Had His many short 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.560 stories include The Caterpillar and The Human Chair. Film and 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.000 TV adaptations of his work go back as far as 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.640 I believe nineteen twenty seven, and while he did write 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:33.800 I think just one screenplay, pretty much all of the 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.280 cinematic and TV treatments of his work were adapted by 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.800 other writers in the adaptations I've continued in film and 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.079 TV and manga and anime. Some of the more famous 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:47.480 adaptations include nineteen sixty nine's Blind Beast and Horrors of 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.959 Malformed Men. So some of these are titles I'm familiar with, 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.520 but I didn't really know much about the Rampo connection, 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:58.320 and then twenty tens Caterpillar and Hiss. Previously mentioned Black 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:02.120 Lizard was adapted numerous times as a play, and then 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.640 two separate adaptations of that play, the nineteen sixty two 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:07.400 film and this nineteen sixty eight one. 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:11.719 Okay, so that's the original novel. But there's another intermediary 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:15.160 literary source, which is the play which is eventually adapted 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:16.119 into the movie. 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:22.720 Yes, and the play here was adapted by another rather 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.640 famous figure in Japanese culture. This is Yukio Mishima, who 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.480 lived nineteen twenty five through nineteen seventy. So he wrote 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.960 the stage adaptation upon which this is based. And there's 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:41.199 a lot to potentially unpacked here with Yukyo Mashima. You 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.720 could do a whole podcast just on this guy. He's 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:51.120 ultimately a very controversial figure. Mishima was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.520 and model. Is a highly successful writer. Is said to 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:59.440 affused modern Western trends with traditional Japanese elements, with a 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:03.480 general focus on beauty, eroticism, and death. In his private 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.480 life and revealed in some of his writings, he was 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:10.080 apparently bisexual and often dealt with themes of same sex love. 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:14.360 He was also a shintos and an ultra right wing 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.240 nationalist who founded a militia known as the Shield Society, 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:22.120 and on November twenty fifth, nineteen seventy, this, of course 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:25.200 is the year of his death, he essentially attempted a 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.600 coup with four members of the militia invading a Japanese 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:32.920 military base, taking the commandant hostage, and trying to encourage 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.440 the Japanese Self Defense Forces to overthrow the government and 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.240 restore the full rule of the Emperor wow In. This 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:45.880 attempt culminated in Mashima's own death via sepuku and yeah again, 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.960 he's remained a very controversial figure because of all of this, 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:51.319 though on the other hand, there's always been a lot 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:54.240 of interest in him in his work in and out 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:58.080 of Japan. American director Paul Schrader, for example, directed a 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.960 biopic in nineteen eighty five titled Mishima A Life in 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:06.280 Four Chapters, starring ken Ogata in the lead role. We 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.880 were actually chatting about this with our excellent producer JJ 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.439 Possway off Mike before we went in here, because I 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.680 don't think either of us have seen this particular Paul 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.920 Schrader film, but JJ has and said that it's really 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:21.400 worth saying. It's quite excellent. 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:25.880 Now, if I'm not mistaken, Mishima appears bodily in Black 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:27.120 Lizard as well, doesn't he. 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.680 That's right. Yeah, Mishima himself was in addition to all 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:32.800 these other things, he was an actor and a model. 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:37.200 He was a noted bodybuilder and has a very memorable 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.800 non speaking role in this film. I mean, you could 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:41.160 say it's a cameo, but I don't know when a 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.000 cameo has like this much weight, I don't want to 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:45.000 dismiss it as such. 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.280 He's the So there is a sequence later in the 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:53.240 movie with these frozen human figures. They're sort of described, 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:56.480 I think as stuffed bodies, though there's a something almost 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.560 supernatural implied about the way that they're frozen, because they're 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:03.840 clearly just they're not mannequins, they're human bodies, and their 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.200 human body is just kind of like trembling. You can 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.520 see them moving a little bit. And he's one of them, right, 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:11.480 He's the one who's like in the middle of a 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:12.920 knife fight with another guy. 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.320 Yeah, yeah, it's I mean, it's it's the classic, like 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:20.520 you know, wax museum effect of having people being really 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:23.720 still pretending to be models or some sort of preservation 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:27.200 of formerly living humans. So it does have that inherent 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.560 creepiness that we often touch on. But yeah, this is him. 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.080 It's a very pivotal scene as well. We'll get to. 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.760 It's also notable in that Yeah, this can't be relegated 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.240 as a cameo because a lot of times the poster 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:45.480 art has Mashima on the poster alongside the star, which 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.760 generally you don't do with your cameo appearances. Like the 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.720 detective Acecchi, who is in many respects the protagonist of 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.120 the picture, is not on the poster or not on 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.480 many of the posters that I was looking at, So yeah, 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.640 worth keeping in mind. As for Mishima, he has at 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:06.200 least some other acting credits, including the nineteen sixty yakuza 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.360 film Afraid to Die, in which he starred, and nineteen 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:13.640 sixty six's Patriotism, which he also wrote and co directed. 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.200 All Right, and then the screenplay based on the play 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:24.040 based on the novel. The credit here is Masashigi Narusawa, 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:26.840 who lived nineteen twenty five through twenty twenty one. An 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.880 award winning screenwriter and director. His films include nineteen fifty 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.520 six's Street of Shame sixty eight's Curse of the Blood. 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.280 He was active from nineteen fifty through seventy five, with 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.480 a final Rampo adaptation airing on TV in nineteen eighty. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:43.440 All Right, so that's the director. That's the folks involved. 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:47.320 In the writing of the picture. But now we have 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.560 to talk about are the true star of this and 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:55.240 that is Akihiro Miwa playing Black Lizard. This is just 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.040 a fabulous performance. This is one of those performances where 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.440 Miwa is almost constantly the screen and is it a 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:03.600 light whenever he is on screen? 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:06.320 I agree, Miwa makes this movie what it is. 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:10.879 Yeah, So, Miwa was born in nineteen thirty five and 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:15.920 as of this recording is still alive, and it's it's 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.560 essential to note that here in this starring role as 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:23.400 Black Lizard, the title character, the Master Criminal, we have 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.240 one of, if not the most famous Japanese drag performers 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:29.840 of the fifties and sixties, if not of all time. 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.959 Drag culture does still seem to be going strong in Japan. 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.320 But yeah, I'm assuming the only Western comparison would be 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:40.439 like someone like Rue Paul, Like this would be like 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:44.040 having Rue Paul appear as the title character in your 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.119 super criminal picture. Maybe there's a better comparison to be 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.800 made right in if you've got one. Anyway, MIA's cabaret 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:53.240 career goes back to I believe nineteen fifty two, and 0:17:53.320 --> 0:18:00.760 he rose to popularity transcending eventually from stage to film, TV, music, writing, 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.439 and directing. He put out five albums between nineteen seventy 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:08.560 three and nineteen ninety five, all centered around his drag persona. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.280 He also became an outspoken voice on political and social 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.879 issues in Japan, and he worked his way up to 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:20.280 this glorious leading role through often smaller appearances sometimes it's 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.200 like a singer or background character, and number of films, 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.560 and then followed this one up with nineteen sixty nine's 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:30.440 Black Rose or Black Rose Mansion, which was also directed 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:35.440 by Fukusaku's I haven't seen it, but it's apparently classified 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:37.280 as kind of like a dark romantic drama. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:38.480 Now. 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:42.199 While there's some additional live action roles after this, MEA's 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:47.800 biggest contributions moving forward after this point are mostly voice 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:51.840 roles in animated projects, but boy did include some big ones. 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.800 He voiced the three hundred year old wolf goddess Moro 0:18:55.920 --> 0:19:01.040 Nokmi in Miyazaki's nineteen ninety seven masterpiece Princess Mana. If 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:05.040 you've only seen the dubbed version, this would be the 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.879 character that Gillian Anderson dubs. You know, this big wolf 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.880 goddess creature. He also voices the Witch of the Waste 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:15.240 in Miyazaki's two thousand and four film Howell's Moving Castle, 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.479 and for you Pokemon fans out there, he also voiced 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.600 a Pokemon by the name of Okay, I'm not sure 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:25.480 on this one, Arsius or Archius. I asked my son 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:27.560 about this real quick, and he was like, people might 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.920 get mad at you. But he was like, they may 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.639 say Archias or man, they may say Arsius, but be 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.360 prepared to be corrected. So okay, I am prepared. But anyway, 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.359 this is like an important Pokemon, like the title Pokemon 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.879 and the two thousand and nine TV movie Arcius and 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:43.920 the Jewel of Life. 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.080 If people are going to be mad at us, I 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:47.240 hope it's about Pokemon. 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:50.520 Yeah, I'm always happy to be corrected. 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.600 But to come back to Black Lizard, Aki hero Miwa 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:57.159 is phenomenal in this movie, so much like passion and 0:19:57.280 --> 0:19:59.399 charisma in this performance. 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:04.800 Absolutely every scene, and also so many costume and hair changes. Uh. 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.639 This is definitely one of those pictures where we will 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.840 call out the costume designer because you know, any new 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.560 scene with Black Lizard, you're gonna get a new costume. 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.120 You make it an entirely different hair going on as well. 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.800 It's great. It's also a surprise for like a crime thriller, 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:24.160 it is a surprisingly dialogue heavy film, and I think 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:27.080 that may be based on the fact that it was Uh. 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:30.639 This is adapted from a stage play, so there are 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:34.320 fewer just straight action scenes than you might imagine. A 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:37.440 lot of it's just sort of dialogue and uh, and 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:39.280 and there is there are a lot of thrills, but 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:41.960 a lot of the thrills are like twists that are 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:43.520 revealed through dialogue. 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:46.120 That's right. Yeah, so it's talkier than you might expect, 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:50.200 But luckily the dialogue is often just tremendous. We already 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.200 quoted a little of it, and you know, it often 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:55.480 has that flavor and a weird character to it. And 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:57.880 uh and yeah, and when the when we do have 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:03.359 punctuations of actual act, it generally is also really weird 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:06.080 and jaw dropping. All right, now, it's important to talk 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:09.760 about the ace detective. This is Detective Akechi, played by 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.640 Issau Kimura, who lived nineteen twenty three through nineteen eighty one. 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:16.879 The interesting thing here is that, yeah, Detective Akechi is 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:20.119 in many of your sex the actual protagonist of the film, 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:24.920 and is essentially Rampo's Sherlock Holmes character appearing in multiple 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:29.640 novels and short stories. So while many viewers may watch 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:31.840 this and you just see the sort of you know, 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.520 typical noir detective character, you know, a little bit tortured, 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:38.440 a little bit jaded, smoking and drinking, trying to solve 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:40.720 the crime, maybe falling a little bit in love here 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:45.240 and there. So while many viewers I just dismiss that 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:50.640 this character is like the detective figure in Japanese pop culture, 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.520 and was in fact the first recurring detective character in 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:56.640 Japanese fiction. So he's a big deal and has been 0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:01.440 played by numerous actors over the years, including Tadanobu Asano, 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:04.200 who have played of course, is the star of Ichi 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:06.800 the Killer and also had a really great role in 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:11.360 the recent Fax adaptation of Showgun. He was in two 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:13.720 thousand and five's Rampo Noir. 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.600 So a catchy we are told is Japan's number one detective. 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:21.960 But he also I don't know, it makes a lot 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.080 more sense to me knowing that this is a recurring 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:26.840 character because there's a sort of prologue in the film 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:30.639 that's almost like, well here I am, I'm in the club. 0:22:30.720 --> 0:22:34.880 Now sucked into this crime, and it makes more sense 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:37.240 if this is kind of a character we would recognize. 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:39.280 Yeah, and in a way, it kind of gives you 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:44.400 more license to let that character become secondary because he 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:48.040 does have this iconic place already, you know, in the 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:50.080 same way that you can have a Sherlock Holmes film 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:54.240 certainly these days and allow secondary characters to sort of 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:55.080 take the forefront. 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.240 Yeah, totally so. 0:22:57.359 --> 0:23:00.879 Anyway, Kamu right here playing the role frequently worked in 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:04.000 supporting roles in Akira Kurosawa films, including fifty four to 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:07.560 seven Samurai and fifty seven's Throne of Blood. Yeah. I 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:10.240 think his performance here certainly hits all the world weary 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:14.119 noir detective notes that you'd expect. And I suppose this 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:17.680 in many ways this helps like ground the flashier elements 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:19.840 of the picture as well. But he's good. It's a 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:20.560 good performance. 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:21.320 Yeah. 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:23.639 All right, this is all going to picture, This is 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:26.280 all going to center around in many respects, A damsel 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:32.080 in frequent distress, a youngly, a young woman that Black 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:37.480