United Red Army (Wakamatsu, 2007)

[HungFist]

"Youngsters today are sissies!" – Koji Wakamatsu *

ok, I know this film has been discussed to death on every film forum on the web, but I think there may still be a person or two out there who aren’t aware of this masterful film, desu kara, I will create this thread.

Shortly put, United Red Army is one of the most powerful films of the decade. 1960’s pink rebel Koji Wakamatsu (Ecstasy of the Angels, Go, Go Second Time Virgin) has crafted a 3 hour epic following the birth of the extremist group URA in the early 70’s. Mixing documentary footage with traditional cinema Wakamatsu shows how good ideals turn into senseless violence. The director’s approach is admiring, critical, and intelligent. Wakamatsu gave his all for the production; even the director’s own house was burnt to the ground for the sake of bringing his vision to the screens.

"A gut-wrenching docudrama underlaid with electrifying psychedelic rock music by Sonic Youth founder member Jim O’Rourke."

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r89FY14Ax38

This official website is excellent:
http://www.united-red-army.com/?language=en

No English subbed dvd yet, but one is bound to come out sooner or later. Maybe Criterion?

* that is a translation of a translation. I’m sorry. I can’t find the original source. I think Wakamatsu said that on a film festival in Germany.

[Marshall]

Well, mission accomplished, as I was the one who had not heard of this. Not a fan of the director, and the subject matter and running time make this a deal-killer. The music in the trailer did indeed rock my junk, however.

[HungFist]

The music in the trailer did indeed rock my junk, however.

http://rokudenashi-bunka.blogspot.com/2 ... lodge.html
http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/1 ... army-2007/

[Tutut]

For japanese or french speakers, it's released in France from distributor Blaq Out.

[HungFist]

January 17, 2012

[HungFist]

JP BD March 6, 2013

[Shingster]

Just discovered that this is playing in a cinema relatively near me as part of a Japanese film festival that's touring the UK, which is a complete shock as I've basically had to wait half of my life for any kind of Japanese film festival to play in my "local" city (despite it being the 2nd largest city in the UK). The only problem now is that I've got to sell a 3hr+ Japanese docu-drama to at least one of my friends who can drive there!

[HungFist]

That shouldn't be so hard. My friend who came to Yubari had to deal with a cancelled flight, a train that never arrived, and a hostel that was located in the middle of a forest. Accessing Birmingham (?) should be relatively easy

[Shingster]

Yeah, but after film is finished or even if he missed the film he'd still be in Yubari. I'd be stuck in the outskirts of Birmingham, which is largely a right shithole!