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Ecstasy of the Angels

 

  Directed by Koji Wakamatsu

Japan 1972 / Avant-Garde / Experimental / Psychological / 88 min / Black & White / Color / Monaural / 1.66: 1 Widescreen Edition / NTSC /  In Japanese with English Subtitles

Yuki Arasa, Yosuke Akiyama, Susumu Iwabuchi , Ken Yoshizawa, Masao Adachi, Rie Yokoyama , Michio Akiyama

Maverick auteur Koji Wakamatsu once again marries softcore porn with radical politics with this trippy tale about a member of a militant group coming apart at the seams as it plans its latest strike against society. The members of the group, who all go by code names based on the days of the week, labor under the "Autumn" branch of the organization. Following a late-night weapons raid on a U.S. Army base that turns bloody, members of the "Spring" branch attack, torture, and rape Saturday (Rie Yokoyama) and Friday, demanding the weapons cache. This betrayal echoes throughout the group, turning friend against friend, as one and all descend into paranoia and sexual decadence. Some go crazy, as others grow ever more revolutionary. Evidentially, a splinter group unleashes a wave of bomb attacks upon the unsuspecting bourgeois of Tokyo.

 
       
Bonus Features: Exclusive interview with director Koji Wakamatsu