Cinematheque: Masahiro Shinoda’s Killers on Parade & Double Suicide

Films: 7:00pm: Killers on Parade (1962) 8:45pm: Double Suicide (1969) Location: ACMI Cinemas, Federation Square, Flinders Street, Melbourne More Information: Visit the Melbourne Cinematheque Presented in conjunction with The Japan Foundation.

Closing the Melbourne Cinémathèque's season, and the Japanese focus for 2011, Killers on Parade (1962) is a comic book-esque satire on the Japanese obsession with violence & lust for Western culture. A delirious pastiche of Godard’s stylistic & formal irreverence & film noir’s hardened determinism; this is a New Wave classic.

Finishing the season is the sumptuous, tempestuous love story Double Suicide (1969), an adaptation of a bunraku puppet play from 1720. A grand finish to this retrospective, Double Suicide displays Shinoda’s magnificent ability to blend Japanese theatrical traditions with a truly stunning modern cinematic vision.

Concentrating on the key period of Shinoda’s career & following his transition from Shochiku to his instatement as the head of independent production company Hyogen-sha in 1965. His artistic flair & fascinating cinematic vision flourished with this move into an arena of increased creative autonomy. Providing incomparable insight into the Japanese mindset, this season promises to impress.