Burst City — Burst City(Blu Ray)
Burst City (Bakuretsu toshi) appeared in 1982- it was the 5th feature-length film from Gakuryû Ishii(as Sogo Ishii)- whose seen as big influences on the likes of Shinya Tsukamoto ( the Tetsuo series ) and Takashi Miike ( Dead or Alive series, Itchi The Killer, etc). And there's no doubt this a crazed, often manic, and overloaded visual & musical ride into post-apocalyptic punk.
The film's plot- as it is- finds two rival punk bands and their extremely raucous & pumped-up fans gather to protest against the construction of a nuclear power plant. The film takes place in a derelict-yet neon lite industrial wasteland somewhere on the outskirts of in near-future Tokyo. Added into this we have brutal cops, and even more brutal/ deranged yakuza gangs. From the opening credits the energy & manic-ness of the whole thing kicks in, and barely lets up over it’s just of two-hour runtime- between the blood-red credits, we get sped-up & at points twisting/ blurring motorbike & car footage as they rip through cityscapes. As the film goes on we move from one up-close & personal punk rock performance & crowd footage. Lo-fi Madmax car motorbike & care chases-with camera held or tied to the outside of the vehicles. Inbetween we get cop & punk clashes, sleazed & brutal encounters between yakuza & hookers. I guess if I could compare it to anything I’d say a more low-fi, urbanised & punked take on Mad Max: Fury Road- as the whole thing is just a visual/ audio rush- though like Fury Road there’s not much depth/plot present here.
So moving onto the plus’s & negatives- the good stuff first, the film really does fire out of the screen at you, pulling you in and visually/ sonically overloading you. The less good stuff- at nearing the two-hour mark feels around thirty or forty minutes too long- as one starts to become somewhat jaded/ bored by the intensity of it all- with little or no story to pull you in it’s later run. The acting is decidedly mixed & uneven- with clearly a blend of a few professional actors, with largely non-actors. Lastly, visual tropes/ imagery do tend to replay. I’d say if you have an interest in the Mad Max rip-offs of the ’80s, and like the idea of a more punked musical edge, you’ll get a kick out of Burst City.
Moving onto this new Blu Ray release- and we get a wonderfully clear, crisp & defined new print which really makes the film often like it could have been made yesterday. On the extras side we get a good selection of stuff- first up is a commentary track from Japanese film expert/ writer Tom Mes- and us usual with Mes’s tracks it’s a most informative & interesting- as he moves from discussing the film importance, the crew who worked on the film that went onto be important in their own right. He goes onto give in-depth bios of actors, discussing the bands that appear on the film, and talking about onscreen action. He talks about directors Gakuryû Ishii other work, how this film fits into his filmography, and more. Next, we get a brand new on-camera interview with director Ishii- this runs just shy of an hour, and finds him talking about both Burst City & his whole career. Next, we get a twenty-seven-minute on-camera interview with academic and independent filmmaker Yoshiharu Tezuka he talks about Burst City, and the Ishu Eiga film movement it was part of.
It’s great to see Arrow Video release this influential & ahead of its time Japanese film- with the label giving their usual care, love & passion to the Blu Ray release. Burst City really is a visual adrenaline rush of a film, and really needs to be seen by anyone who enjoys punk, lo-fi post-apocalyptic visuals, and general visual/ sonic overloading experiences.