The influence of the Japanese enfant terrible Sogo Ishii (°1957) on the development of contemporary Japanese cinema is incontestable. Nowadays internationally acclaimed for art house features such as Angel Dust and Labyrinth Of Dreams, he started out as a former punk musician who turned into a self-made director and chronicler of the Japanese punk movement of the late 70s and early 80s. Ishii’s goal was to make the cinematic equivalent to punk music; movies, featuring the struggles of misfits and underdogs against established society, in which every frame is imbued with the philosophy, spirit and look of the Japanese Punk scene. Ishii’s early work foreshadows everything from the works of Shinya Tsukamoto and Takashi Miike to two decades’ worth of MTV music videos.
Sogo Ishii
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+ Crazy Thunder Road
Sogo Ishii, 1980, JP, 35mm, ov en st, 90'
Irreverent, manic, anarchic and energetic, this raw-edged biker flick is pure punk. Reminiscent of Mad Max, it shares the same dazzling technical proficiency and razor-sharp editing with Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead.
+ Panic In High School (Koko Dai Panikku)
Sogo Ishii, 1976, JP, super8 > video, ov fr st, 17'
A high school student rallies his classmates into rebelling violently when the administration refuses to take responsibility for the suicide of one of the students. Sogo Ishii’s first 8mm film from 1977.
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