Directed by Isao Fujisawa • 1974 • Japan
Starring Ren Tamura, Miyabi Ichijo, Atsuko Ami

When lost and nihilistic drifter Utamaro (Ren Tamura) chances upon Giko (Miyabi Ichijo), a female-presenting shoplifter, one thing leads to another and the couple soon find themselves on the lam for murder. As the pair get to know each other on the road by way of encounters alternately surrealistic, psychedelic, and sexual, what emerges is a daringly liberated portrait of social malaise, free love, and gender fluidity in a rapidly changing 1970s Japan. The sole feature directed by Isao Fujisawa, who learned his craft as an assistant director to Hiroshi Teshigahara on New Wave classics like WOMAN IN THE DUNES and THE FACE OF ANOTHER this landmark of Japanese queer cinema is a deeply personal reckoning with sexual and personal identity that bridges the distance between PIERROT LE FOU, BONNIE AND CLYDE, and FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES with an impeccable sense of style, splashes of Godardian color, and potent anti-imperialist and existential themes.