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On its release, a mass media campaign was waged against the release of Ecstasy of the Angels accusing the film of inflaming ‘random terrorism'.
Known as the ‘Pink Godfather'- referring to his pioneering efforts in the pinku eiga genre - Koji Wakamatsu anticipates the real-life violent disintegration of the Japanese extreme Left in 1972, which he also recalls in his recent project United Red Army (showing in this year's Neighbourhood Watch program).
A politico-anarchist fable, Ecstasy of the Angels details a revolutionary organisation torn apart by betrayal, as its members descend into paranoia, sadism and sexual decadence.
Despite its inglorious debut, Ecstasy of the Angels is now rightly acknowledged as one of the most provocative and outstanding films in Japanese cinema history.
"Pink films should be guerrilla movies… I quit pink movies because they started to become known and everyone started to praise them.” - filmmaker Koji Wakamatsu
--- D Kôji Wakamatsu P Kôji Wakamatsu, Kinshirô Kuzui S Izuru Deguchi WS Wakamatsu Production L Japanese w/English subtitles TD 35mm/1969