WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Black Lizard (1968) 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:08.800 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.800 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:19.919 And this is Joe McCormick. And hey, folks, I said 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.320 this on yesterday's episode, but I want to say again, 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.279 if I sound unusual in today's episode, if I sound 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:27.440 a little hoarse, it is because I've got a bit 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:29.680 of a cold. But a bit of a cold could 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:32.880 not stop me from talking about today's movie on Weird House, 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.080 which is nineteen sixty eight. It's Black Lizard. 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:38.960 We should have worked it into the picture and so 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.280 that you sound like you do because a strange woman 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:46.000 with demon yellow eyes through a constricting snake at your neck. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.400 But it's more mundane are the causes here? But yeah, 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:56.200 we have yet another cult favorite gem from Japanese cinema today, 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.680 and it follows the traditions of danger diabolic and that 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.520 it is another super criminal film, full of style, full 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:08.240 of visual pizazz. It's campy, it's bizarre, but also I 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:10.560 think with a lot of interesting depth. As you dig 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.440 into it, we're going to be talking about nineteen sixty 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:17.240 eight's Black Lizard. Today's film is also notable in that 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:21.360 it is entirely centered around a charismatic drag performance. The 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:25.600 title character, Black Lizard or Cororo Tokagi, is a stylish 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:29.880 female super criminal played in this film by prominent drag performer, 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:35.480 really famous and legendary drag performer, Akihiro Miwa, who will 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.920 have more information about here in a bet, but a 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:42.720 true legend, but a cultural figure of note, and it's 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.679 all played out seriously and thoughtfully, never for a giggle 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:48.160 in a wink. I've seen descriptions of this film as 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.080 a comedy. I think the current Internet movie database summary, 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:55.360 for example, says it's a comedy in the summary, and 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:57.920 I don't know, I don't think that's one hundred percent accurate. 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.720 It is a tremendously fun film. It is certainly camp, 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:06.960 but it doesn't really seem to play for laughs. But again, 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:08.520 it is tremendously fun. 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.480 Yeah, there are funny things in it. It certainly has 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.799 an over the top sensibility, but I would say it 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.040 plays a lot more as kind of a serious tragic 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:20.560 romance and as a crime thriller more certainly more than 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.480 as a comedy. I would say it is no more 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.720 a comedy than danger diabolic as a comedy, and also 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:31.399 in Diabolic there are funny scenes and an absurd gratuitousness. 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:36.520 There's similar movies in a lot of ways, but neither 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.560 one really has the moment to moment focus on laughs 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:40.960 that a comedy usually does. 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.840 All right, elevator pitch for this film, I want to 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.200 approach it two ways. One, I would say it's the 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:50.880 forbidden love of a super criminal and an ace detective 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.920 realized in a stylish sixties counterculture Japanese cinema festival for 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.760 the eyes. But I also think that there's one line 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:02.600 in particular in translation here. Of course, we both watched 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:07.120 it with subtitles. I don't think a dub exists, and 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:08.880 I don't think I would want the dub. I think 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.240 I would want the subtitles. But there's one great line 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:17.040 where our main character, Aketchi, the number one detective in Japan, 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.680 is speaking to Black Lizard, the super criminal, and says, 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.400 black Lizard, you were an old fashioned romanticist in this 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.280 age soiled by corruption and murder. You believe that crime 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:33.079 should wear a gorgeous gown with a train fifteen feet long, 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.240 just like the primordial dreams of lizards. 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:38.000 Oh yeah, like those. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.240 Yeah, And that's I mean, if you love that line, 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:45.360 you'll love this film. This film perfectly delivers on like 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:49.240 the glorious, poetic weirdness of that statement. All right now, 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.600 I wasn't able to find what I could one hundred 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:57.240 percent feel certain about concerning a trailer, Japanese or otherwise. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.120 So what I did find was a that was uploaded 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.560 by Brooklyn's Spectacle Theater, which I've never been to, but 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.480 it looks amazing. It's a collectively run screening space run 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.600 by movie loving volunteers and they play a lot of 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.200 just great looking stuff, including some films that we've covered 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.880 on Weird House before. Like just at the time of 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:17.599 this recording, I'm like, oh, what are they playing this 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:19.880 week at this place? And they're playing Doctor of Doom, 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:24.800 which is a wonderful Mexican luchadora film that we've covered 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.479 in the past. So so go check them out Brooklyn 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.679 Spectacle Theater. We're going to borrow part of the trailer 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.000 they uploaded. Again. I'm not sure if this is part 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.400 of an original trailer part of a trailer that they made, 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.480 but either way, it'll give you just a little sonic taste. 0:04:39.240 --> 0:05:00.120 Of black lizards, you know, it give climateg. 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:18.840 Too much. 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:37.360 On all. Right now, if you want to go out 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.200 and watch Black Lizard before proceeding with the rest of 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.680 this episode, well, I'm sad to say this one is 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.560 tragically hard to find right now as of this recording, 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.280 as of this moment, despite the film having had an 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.640 official international and US release, even if a limited one 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.880 back in nineteen sixty nine, even though it had subsequent 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.440 re releases in Japan and and abroad over the decades 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:02.560 to follow. It might have been released on VHS at 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:06.279 one point, as Michael Weldon, who loved it, references a 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.680 tape in his Psychotronic Video guide book. I'm not sure 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:13.760 if he's referring to a legit tape or more of 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.080 a gray market sort of thing, but yeah, it's a 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:18.480 real shame because this is a fabulous film with a 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.679 cult following. It has cultural significance historical significance as well, 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.120 and it deserves to be seen by more film fans 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.440 than the best quality possible. If you look around, you 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:31.600 can find some sources for it. But I also have 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.440 to stress that this is the nineteen sixty eight Black 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.440 Lizard or Coro Toakagi film, not to be confused with 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:41.400 other films titled Black Lizard, including an unrelated Shaw Brothers 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.240 Hong Kong film titled Black Lizard from nineteen eighty one, 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.640 or a nineteen sixty two Japanese film titled Black Lizard 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:52.120 that is actually an earlier adaptation of the same novel 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.080 in the same play. I've seen part of the sixty 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.120 two film, and it's also quite stylish and quite good. 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.680 I was about like twenty mins and it's into it 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.120 before I realized, Oh, I have the wrong movie. I 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.200 need to find I need to look around a little art. 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.800 I think the sixty two win is actually maybe you 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.800 can stream it through Criterion Collection. So, but it would 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:13.960 not be a loss to watch the sixty two version. 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:15.360 You're going to hit a lot of the same plot 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:17.880 points we're hitting here. But we are talking about the 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.280 nineteen sixty eight adaptation here today. 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:22.960 Now when it comes to the sixty eight version, the 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.920 director is actually somebody quite familiar on Weird House. 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:30.400 That's right. It's Kimji Fukusaku, who lived nineteen thirty through 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.880 two thousand and three. He directed nineteen seventy eight's Message 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:34.760 from Space. 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:37.400 And Nice Best of the Star Wars Repulse. 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:39.960 Yeah, that was a one we covered early on on 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.560 Weird House, and he also directed nineteen sixty eight so 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:48.360 The Green Slime, which we covered far more recently, both 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.680 very enjoyable films in their own distinct ways and also 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.720 rather different from today's entry. Yes, now, Fukusako has sixty 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.960 eight directorial credits on IMDb, and probably the big one 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:00.800 for a lot of listeners, as I mentioned before, is 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.960 two thousand's Battle Royale, which was a huge late career 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.360 hit for him, to the extent that it can to 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.920 a casual fan, you might, you know, only focus on that, 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.520 but other films of note include at least the Japanese 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.320 portions of nineteen seventies Tora Tora Tora. He apparently was 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:23.560 brought in after Kurosawa backed out nineteen seventy three's Battles 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:26.920 Without Honor and Humanity. He directed a number of action 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.280 yakuza and samurai movies, as well as the high budget 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.400 nineteen eighty sci fi film Virus, which featured a host 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.199 of Japanese and American actors. He also directed the two 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.640 thousand and two video game like PlayStation video game clock 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:43.840 Tower three, which I think I did play, and in 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.840 doing so, this was my earliest exposure to Fukusaku's work. 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:50.079 Is that like a horror game. 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.240 Yeah, if it's the one I'm thinking of. There's a 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:57.000 lot of like creeping around and trying to avoid like killers, 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:00.240 you know, like mass killers that you can't actually directly stand. 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:02.240 So in a way, it's kind of a similar vibe 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.960 to like the Alien Isolation game that came many many 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:09.880 years later. I don't remember anything about it where I'm like, 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:14.320 oh wow, of course Fukusaku was involved in this anyway. 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.640 Fukusaku's a director often associated with the Japanese New wave 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.319 cinema movement of the sixties and seventies, but he was 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:24.160 also a big commercial success, highly acclaimed both in Japan 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.440 and by filmmakers around the world. I've seen the likes 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:30.880 of Tarantino, Paul Schraeder and others talk about how much 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:34.160 they admire his work. All right now, in terms of 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.520 the writing here, they'll basically be like three levels because 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.800 the original source for this is a novel by Rampo 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:46.400 ed Ogawa, who lived eighteen ninety four through nineteen sixty five. 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.360 This was the pen name of Japanese author Tero Hirari. 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:56.439 Crafted this pen name Rampo ed Ogawa was apparently crafted 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:01.080 to resemble Edgar Allan Poe or PO. Edgar Allan So 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:06.480 PO Edgar Allan Rampo ed Ogawa So and Edgar Allan Poe, 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.240 along with Arthur Conan Doyle and others, were our big 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:14.000 influence on Rampo's work. I have to admit I was 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.360 really not familiar with Rampo prior to this. I don't 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.400 know if you'd ever run across discussion of his work before. 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:22.800 Joe, possibly, but not that I recall. 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.760 Okay, Yeah, apparently a huge name in the world of 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:30.000 Japanese mystery, detective and horror fiction, known for such works 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:32.800 as The Boy Detective's Club, The Fiend with Twenty Faces, 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.160 and of course The Black Lizard had His many short 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:39.640 stories include The Caterpillar and The Human Chair. Film and 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.040 TV adaptations of his work go back as far as 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:45.760 I believe nineteen twenty seven, and while he did write 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.959 I think just one screenplay, pretty much all of the 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.400 cinematic and TV treatments of his work were adapted by 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.880 other writers in the adaptations I've continued in film and 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.120 TV and manga and anime. Some of the more famous 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:03.439 adaptations and cclued nineteen sixty nine's Blind Beast and Horrors 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.400 of Malformed Men. So some of these are titles I'm 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:08.719 familiar with, but I didn't really know much about the 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:13.800 Rampo connection. And then twenty tens Caterpillar, and it's previously 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:17.520 mentioned Black Lizard was adapted numerous times as a play, 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:21.160 and then two separate adaptations of that play, the nineteen 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.480 sixty two film and this nineteen sixty eight one. 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.760 Okay, so that's the original novel. But there's another intermediary 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.240 literary source, which is the play which is eventually adapted 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:32.160 into the movie. 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:38.760 Yes, and the play here was adapted by another rather 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:43.679 famous figure in Japanese culture. This is Yukio Mishima, who 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:47.520 lived nineteen twenty five through nineteen seventy. So he wrote 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:52.000 the stage adaptation upon which this is based. And there's 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:57.480 a lot potentially unpacked here with Yukyo Mashima. You could 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:01.280 do a whole podcast just on this guy. He's ultimately 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:07.199 a very controversial figure. Mishima was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:11.199 and model. Is a highly successful writer said to affused 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:15.960 modern Western trends with traditional Japanese elements. With a general 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.839 focus on beauty, eroticism, and death. In his private life 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:23.040 and revealed in some of his writings, he was apparently 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:26.120 bisexual and often dealt with themes of same sex love. 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:30.439 He was also a shintost and an ultra right wing 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:34.280 nationalist who founded a militia known as the Shield Society, 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.160 and on November twenty fifth, nineteen seventy, this, of course, 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.280 is the year of his death, he essentially attempted a 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.640 coup with four members of the militia invading a Japanese 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:49.000 military base, taking the commandant hostage, and trying to encourage 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:52.520 the Japanese Self Defense Forces to overthrow the government and 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.199 restore her like the full rule of the Emperor. In 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.959 this attempt culminated in Mishima's own death VI. A Sepaka 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.520 and Yeah Again. He's remained a very controversial figure because 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:06.800 of all of this, though on the other hand, there's 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:08.760 always been a lot of interest in him in his 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.840 work in and out of Japan. American director Paul Schrader, 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:17.400 for example, directed a biopic in nineteen eighty five titled Mishima, 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:21.040 A Life in Four Chapters, starring ken Ogata in the 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.880 lead role. We were actually chatting about this with our 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.199 excellent producer JJ Possway off Mike before we went in here, 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:32.080 because I don't think either of us have seen this 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:35.200 particular Paul Schrader film, but JJ has and said that 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.480 it's really worth saying. It's quite excellent. 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.959 Now, if I'm not mistaken, Mishima appears bodily in Black 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:43.200 Lizard as well, doesn't he. 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.800 That's right. Yeah, Mishima himself was, in addition to all 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:48.840 these other things, he was an actor and a model. 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:52.440 He was a noted bodybuilder and act. Yeah, has a 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.600 very memorable non speaking role in this film. I mean, 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:57.040 you could say it's a cameo, but I don't know 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.720 when a cameo has like this much weight. I don't 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:01.080 want to dismissed it as such. 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:04.320 He's the So there is a sequence later in the 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:09.320 movie with these frozen human figures. They're sort of described, 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:12.560 I think as stuffed bodies, though there's a something almost 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.920 supernatural implied about the way that they're frozen, because they're 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.920 clearly just they're not mannequins, they're human bodies, and their 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.520 human bodies just kind of like trembling. You can see 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.560 them moving a little bit and he's one of them, right, 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:27.560 He's the one who's like in the middle of a 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:29.000 knife fight with another guy. 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.400 Yeah, yeah, it's I mean, it's it's the classic, like 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:36.560 you know, wax museum effect of having people being really 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.760 still pretending to be models or some sort of preservation 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.200 of formerly living humans. So it does have that inherent 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.600 creepiness that we often touch on. But yeah, this is him. 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.160 It's a very pivotal scene as well. We'll get to. 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.840 It's also notable in that, yeah, this can't be relegated 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.320 as a cameo because a lot of times the poster 0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:01.520 art has Mashima on the poster alongside the star, which 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.840 generally you don't do with your cameo appearances. Like the 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.800 detective Acecchi, who is in many respects the protagonist of 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:11.200 the picture, is not on the poster or not on 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.520 many of the posters that I was looking at, So yeah, 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:18.680 worth keeping in mind. As for Mishima, he has at 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.280 least some other acting credits, including the nineteen sixty yakuza 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.440 film Afraid to Die, in which he starred, and nineteen 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.720 sixty six's Patriotism, which he also wrote and co directed. 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:33.280 All Right, and then the screenplay based on the play 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:39.920 based on the novel. The credit here is Masashigi Narusawa, 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.880 who lived nineteen twenty five through twenty twenty one. An 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.920 award winning screenwriter and director. His films include nineteen fifty 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:49.600 six as Street of Shame, sixty eight's Curse of the Blood. 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.320 He was active from nineteen fifty through seventy five, with 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.560 a final Rampo adaptation airing on TV in nineteen eighty. 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:59.520 All right, so that's the director, that's the folks involved 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:03.360 in the writing of the picture. But now we have 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.600 to talk about are the true star of this and 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:11.320 that is Akihiro Miwa playing Black Lizard. This is just 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.080 a fabulous performance. This is one of those performances where 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.440 Miwa is almost constantly on the screen and is it 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:19.680 a light whenever he is on screen? 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.400 I agree Miwa makes this movie what it is. 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.960 Yeah. So, Miwa was born in nineteen thirty five and 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:31.960 as of this recording is still alive, and it's it's 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.640 essential to note that here in this starring role as 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:39.480 Black Lizard, the title character, the master criminal, we have 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.320 one of, if not the most famous Japanese drag performers 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:45.920 of the fifties and sixties, if not of all time. 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:50.040 Drag culture does still seem to be going strong in Japan. 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.360 But yeah, I'm assuming the only Western comparison would be 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:56.520 like someone like Rue Paul, Like this would be like 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:00.440 having Rue Paul appear as the title character or super 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.440 criminal picture. Maybe there's a better comparison to be made 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.240 right in if you've got one. Anyway. MIA's cabaret career 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:09.440 goes back to I Believe nineteen fifty two, and he 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:14.840 rose to popularity, transcending eventually from stage to film, TV, 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:19.679 music writing, and directing. He put out five albums between 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.600 nineteen seventy three and nineteen ninety five, all centered around 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.359 as drag persona. He also became an outspoken voice on 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.919 political and social issues in Japan, and he worked his 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:35.160 way up to this glorious leading role through often smaller 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:38.320 appearances sometimes it's like a singer or background character, and 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.399 number of films, and then followed this one up with 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:45.480 nineteen sixty nine's Black Rose or Black Rose Mansion, which 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.520 was also directed by Fukusaku. I haven't seen it, but 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:54.560 it's apparently classified as kind of like a dark romantic drama. Now. 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.120 While there's some additional live action roles after this Mea 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:03.439 was biggest contributions moving forward after this point are mostly 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:07.199 voice roles in animated projects, but boy did they include 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.600 some big ones. He voiced the three hundred year old 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:15.280 wolf goddess Moro Nokimi in Miyazaki's nineteen ninety seven masterpiece 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:20.320 Princess Mononoki. If you've only seen the dubbed version, this 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.320 would be the character that Gillian Anderson dubs. You know, 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:27.320 this big wolf goddess creature. He also voices the Witch 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.080 of the Waste in Miyazaki's two thousand and four film 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.480 Howell's Moving Castle, and for you Pokemon fans out there, 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:37.160 he also voiced a Pokemon by the name of Okay, 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.879 I'm not sure on this one, Arsius or Archias. I 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.040 asked my son about this real quick, and he was like, 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:46.600 people might get mad at you. But he was like, 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:48.920 they may say Archias or may they may say Arsius, 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:51.760 but be prepared to be corrected. So okay, I am prepared. 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.480 But anyway, this is like an important Pokemon like the 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.919 title Pokemon and the two thousand and nine TV movie 0:18:58.400 --> 0:18:59.960 Arsius and the Jewel of Life. 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:02.159 If people are going to be mad at us. I 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:03.320 hope it's about Pokemon. 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.600 Yeah, I'm always happy to be corrected. 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:09.879 But to come back to Black Lizard, Akihiro Miwa is 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:13.800 phenomenal in this movie, so much like passion and charisma 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:15.480 in this performance. 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:20.080 Absolutely every scene, and also so many costume and hair changes. 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.720 This is definitely one of those pictures where we will 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.880 call out the costume designer because you know, any new 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.600 scene with Black Lizard, you're gonna get a new costume. 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:33.200 You make it an entirely different hair going on as well. 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:33.680 It's great. 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.040 It's also a surprise for like a crime thriller, it 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.920 is a surprisingly dialogue heavy film, and I think that 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.359 may be based on the fact that it was This 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:47.400 is adapted from a stage play, so there are fewer 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.560 just straight action scenes than you might imagine. A lot 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.880 of it's just sort of dialogue and and and there 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:55.640 is There are a lot of thrills, but a lot 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.600 of the thrills are like twists that are revealed through dialogue. 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.280 Right, Yeah, so it's talkier than you might expect, but 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:06.600 luckily the dialogue is often just tremendous. We already quoted 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:08.480 a little of it, and you know, it often has 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:12.399 that flavor, that weird character to it, and yeah, and 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:18.200 when we do have punctuations of actual action, it generally 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.280 is also really weird and jaw dropping. All right, now, 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:24.320 it's important to talk about the Ace detective. This is 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.280 Detective Akechi, played by Issau Kimura who lived nineteen twenty 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.560 three through nineteen eighty one. The interesting thing here is that, yeah, 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:35.680 Detective Akechi is in many respects the actual protagonist of 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:40.240 the film and is essentially Rampos Sherlock Holmes character, appearing 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:45.160 in multiple novels and short stories. So while many viewers 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:47.240 may watch this and you just see the sort of 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:51.000 you know, typical noir detective character, you know, a little 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:54.160 bit tortured, a little bit jaded, smoking and drinking, trying 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.040 to solve the crime, maybe falling a little bit in 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:00.560 love here and there. So while many viewers I just 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:05.520 dismissed that this character is like the detective figure in 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:08.560 Japanese pop culture and was in fact the first recurring 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:11.920 detective character in Japanese fiction. So he's a big deal 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.280 and has been played by numerous actors over the years, 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:19.399 including Tadanobu Asano, who have played of course, is the 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:22.240 star of Ichi the Killer, and also had a really 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:26.480 great role in the recent FX adaptation of Showgun. He 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:29.720 was in two thousand and five's Rampo Noir. 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.639 So a catchy we are told is Japan's number one detective. 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.040 But he also, I don't know. It makes a lot 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:40.600 more sense to me knowing that this is a recurring character, 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:43.520 because there's a sort of prologue in the film that's 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:46.720 almost like, well here I am, I'm in the club, 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.920 now sucked into this crime, And it makes more sense 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:53.320 if this is kind of a character we would recognize. 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:55.359 Yeah, and in a way, it kind of gives you 0:21:55.440 --> 0:22:00.760 more license to let that character become secondary. He does 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:04.080 have this like iconic place already, you know, in the 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:06.000 same way that you can have a Sherlock Holmes film 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:10.320 certainly these days, and allow secondary characters to sort of 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:11.159 take the forefront. 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:13.320 Yeah, totally. So. 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.960 Anyway, Kamu right here playing the role, frequently worked in 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:20.119 supporting roles in Akira Kurosawa films, including fifty four to 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:23.600 seven Samurai and fifty seven's Throne of Blood. Yeah, I 0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:26.280 think his performance here certainly hits all the world. Weary 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:30.159 noir detective notes that you'd expect, and I suppose this 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:33.720 in many ways. This helps like ground the flashier elements 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:35.919 of the picture as well. But he's good. It's a 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:39.399 good performance. Yeah, all right, this is all going to picture, 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:41.560 This is all going to center around in many respects, 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:47.320 a damsel in frequent distress, a youngerly, a young woman 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:52.840 that Black Lizard tries to kidnap multiple times. Her name 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:58.359 is Sane, and she is played by Kiko Matsuka, and 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:00.480 she was born in nineteen forty seven, and she was 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:02.919 in a number of sixties and seventies films, including an 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:06.560 uncredited role as a diver girl in nineteen sixty seven's 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:10.000 Bond film You Only Live Twice. Her other credits include 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:13.159 nineteen sixty eight's The Living Skeleton, Black Rose Mansion, and 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:16.560 a Rampo TV series in nineteen seventy all right. Another 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:23.679 important secondary character is the is the despondent musician Yunichi Amamiya, 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:27.280 played by Yusuku Kuwazu, who lived nineteen thirty five through 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:30.480 twenty twenty two. This apparently is his best known role, 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:33.760 but his credits include nineteen sixty one's Killers on Parade, 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:37.080 nineteen ninety three's Godzilla, versus Mega Godzilla two and nineteen 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:39.760 eighty eight, nineteen ninety eight s Gamma A three Revenge 0:23:40.000 --> 0:23:43.720 of Iris. So, I mean, it's a solid performance this 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:46.800 this tragic character in this film. But also props to 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:49.199 anyone who was ever in both a Godzilla and a 0:23:49.240 --> 0:23:50.040