Kuro tokage (1968)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Rampo Edogawa (novel)
Yukio Mishima (stage adaptation)

Release Date:

July 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Japanese sixties comedy featuring a cunning female jewel thief named Black Lizard who tries to kidnap Sanaye...

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Jewel Thief | Cross Dressing | Homosexual | Transvestite

Cast

Akihiro Miwa	...	Black Lizard (as Akihiro Maruyama)
Isao Kimura	...	Detective Akechi
Kikko Matsuoka	...	Sanaye
Junya Usami	...	Shobei Iwasa
Yûsuke Kawazu	...	Junichi Amamiya
Kô Nishimura	...	Private Detective Keiji Matoba
Toshiko Kobayashi	...	Hina
Sonosuke Oda	...	Harada
Kinji Hattori	...	Toyama
Kyôichi Satô	...	Ôkawa
Jun Kato	...	Sakai
Ryuji Funakoshi	...	Kozu
Mitsuko Takara	...	Show Dancer
Tetsurô Tanba
Yukio Mishima	...	Human statue

Also Known As:

Black Lizard

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Shochiku Company

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kuro bara no yakata (1969)

Soundtrack:

Three-part Invention No.2 in C Minor

Surreal, Sophisticated, Savvy and Slick! This is NOT Godzilla!

Kenji Fukasaku's BLACK LIZARD (1958) was released in the US by CINEVISTA in the early 90's. The movie received a focused and limited release in the US, but its existence in video has developed a cult following that has gained momentum as the years has passed. With the totally bizarre appearances of then-Japan's most famous Kabuki theater transvestite Akihiro Murayama as the title role Black Lizard, Yukio Mishima's cameo as a "statue" or maybe even as an eerie stuffed human figure; a screen play by Mishima based on a story of one of Japan's most famous horror writers, Rampo Edogawa, and even music by electronic "planet music" guru Isao Tomita, this movie reads as a who's who in the arts and literature in Japan in the 60's. But many movies in the past created by geniuses have failed in delivering an intellectual as well as a cinematic punch. This is NOT the case with "Black Lizard". From the psychedelic settings, the poetic dialogue and tragicomic developments, the movie succeeds both as high-art "manga" as well as a well-thought piece of "agit-prop". Few movies deliver so much substance hidden under so much flash; it is one experience that has to be felt viscerally as well as intellectually. Unfortunately, the VHS version is out of print, and I do not know of any plans for a DVD release as of this writing. We wait anxiously until someone revives this totally bizarre and wonderful piece of art and it is released in DVD format for a new generation of anime-educated viewers.