March 21, 2023
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By Tom Wilmot.
It wasn’t so way back that Gakuryu Ishii was a considerably obscure determine within the West, regardless of being certainly one of Japan’s most influential trendy filmmakers. Nonetheless, with the director’s seminal punk movies Loopy Thunder Street (1980) and Burst Metropolis (1982) receiving stacked Blu-ray releases lately, Ishii is experiencing one thing of a cultural resurgence. Third Window Movies continues to have a good time this nonetheless underappreciated champion of Japanese underground cinema with a brand new launch for certainly one of his most beloved cult initiatives, Electrical Dragon 80.000 V (2001).
The movie follows Dragon Eye Morrison (Tadanobu Asano), a pet detective of types who spends his days trying to find lacking reptiles. A childhood accident unlocks an animalistic rage in Morrison, one that’s quelled over time by way of electroshock remedy, which finally offers him the power to conduct electrical energy. He’s found by TV restore man Thunderbolt Buddha (Masatoshi Nagase), a fellow electrical energy wielder who hunts native gangsters. As soon as the 2 males be taught of one another’s existence, they race in the direction of a shock-inducing showdown on the rooftops of Tokyo.
Launched in 2001, when the director was nonetheless going by the identify Sogo Ishii, Electrical Dragon 80.000 V has usually been hailed as a final hurrah for the Japanese cyberpunk motion. Whereas the movie actually has parts of this distinct subgenre – an oppressive city setting and cybernetic enhancements – it shares extra in frequent with its creator’s madcap punk initiatives of the Eighties. The extra meditative filmmaking method cultivated by Ishii by way of his Nineties initiatives is thrown to the wind right here, because the director returns to the frantic digicam work and noisy, audio-visual onslaught utilised for the mind-blowing Burst Metropolis. The movie’s solely actual carryover from Ishii’s modern work is the aesthetic option to shoot in black and white, which was additionally used to full impact for Labyrinth of Desires (1997).
The movie’s 55-minute-long narrative meanders in moments. Morrison wanders the streets of Tokyo, ducking into each nook and cranny looking out for misplaced lizards. In the meantime, Thunderbolt Buddha eavesdrops on Tokyo’s most conspicuously dressed gangster, ready to strike as soon as their guard is down. As soon as the 2 electrically charged superhumans catch wind of one another, all roads result in a scintillating ultimate battle that doesn’t disappoint. For such a meagrely-budgeted movie, Electrical Dragon’s finale presents a confrontation of epic proportions. The grand duel, contested by way of an electrifying fistfight, wouldn’t really feel misplaced in a shonen anime, as Morrison and Buddha unleash a collection of devastating assaults, draining close by energy sources to cost up their talents on the fly. It doesn’t damage that the 2 characters have bigger than life appearances, significantly Thunderbolt Buddha, whose magnificent costume makes for an iconic look. The movie’s storyboards, that are included with Third Window’s launch, aren’t too dissimilar from the panels you’d discover in a manga, they usually’re faithfully realised on the display screen.
Though an off-the-wall and experimental venture, Electrical Dragon truly demonstrates Ishii’s continued development and maturity as a director. Whereas Burst Metropolis’s abrasive visible model is the results of an anarchic manufacturing helmed by a younger and comparatively inexperienced filmmaker, Electrical Dragon’s kinetic visuals are calculated and purposeful. The usage of Ishii’s trademark fast-motion works brilliantly to construct anticipation for the ultimate battle, whereas the mixing of stylised graphics brings the characters’ electrifying powers to life. These in-your-face visuals are juxtaposed with moody pictures of an overcast Tokyo panorama and some situations of stark and fairly disturbing imagery. Though not as uncooked because the director’s earlier works, the movie builds on his early punk sensibilities and type to offer the impression of a measured director whose talent has developed with age.
Whereas Ishii’s extra meditative works throughout the Nineties little question knowledgeable his method to Electrical Dragon to a level, the venture additionally owes a debt to the director’s live performance movies of the Eighties. Within the lengthy decade between The Loopy Household (1984) and Angel Mud (1994), Ishii collaborated with a number of bands, together with the Japanese punk outfit The Roosters and the German underground band Einstürzende Neubauten, producing experimental live performance movies for them each. Ishii’s capability to current the act of enjoying music in such an thrilling and filmic method lends itself to Electrical Dragon, as Morrison thrashes a guitar to channel his rage. In actual fact, the movie is extra intimately rooted in Ishii’s love for music than one would possibly first guess. The director and lead actor Tadanobu Asano, who had beforehand collaborated on Labyrinth of Desires, made up half of the band Mach 1.67. The group’s intense industrial punk music impressed the creation of Electrical Dragon within the first place, they usually went on to provide the movie’s heavy-hitting rating.
An impromptu venture, Electrical Dragon was accomplished in a really brief time-frame, conceived and shot while Ishii was within the technique of making ready for Gojoe (2000), one other Asano automobile. In enterprise the venture, Ishii as soon as once more embodied the do-it-yourself perspective of each Japan’s punk and jishu eiga (self-made movie) scenes. Straying from the norms of the movie trade additional nonetheless, the director as soon as toyed with taking the movie on tour concert-style slightly than heading down a typical distribution route. Whereas his model and forename have modified over time, Ishii stays a staunchly rebellious and fiercely unbiased filmmaker; his attitudes are typified by the distinctiveness of Electrical Dragon.
Alongside a number of archival extras on this Third Window launch is a brand new interview with former Mach 1.67 member Hiroyuki Onogawa. The composer has been producing movie scores for the higher a part of thirty years, and he received his begin within the trade by way of an opportunity assembly with Ishii at a bar in Fukuoka. Starting with Ishii’s August within the Water (1995), Onogawa would go on to work virtually solely with the director till Mirrored Thoughts (2004), which marks their final collaboration up to now. Coming from a background in ambient music, the composer notes that he’s largely related to rock music in Japan on account of his work on Electrical Dragon. On this insightful interview, Onogawa traces his profession by way of the movie trade and discusses the short-lived lifetime of Mach 1.67.
A Blu-ray launch for Electrical Dragon 80.000 V has been lengthy overdue, and Third Window Movies’ package deal doesn’t disappoint. When it comes to important Japanese cult movies, Ishii’s wild venture must be fairly excessive on everybody’s watchlist. So, strap your self in, crank up the quantity, and immerse your self on this completely electrifying piece of punk cinema from certainly one of Japan’s best trendy filmmakers.
Electrical Dragon 80.000 V is launched within the UK by Third Window Movies.
