There are a few times in my filmgathering life where I have to make a choice between being thankful for a rich, big experience, and mourning the fact that I missed it when it could have mattered more. Each of these is a seed and this film could conceivably have been experienced by me decades ago. Would I have finer sculpture? Would every subsequent film that mattered cut deeper?
But then the better parts of me just enjoy the experience, part of which is wonder why the Japanese make the best French films. I think there's a discussion in there about cultural assertiveness and military failure seen as societal spaghettithinking.
This is an important film. It may matter to you. I recommend it.
Its not a story, though there is a small story in there: about two queens competing for the diva position at a transvestite club. Its about roles and masks and sight. It has within it a filmmaker and a radical film that we see from time to time. The film he is making blurs into the film we are seeing, with characters being interviewed both in character and as actors. We sometimes see the filming.
Imposed on both of these threads are a collection of flashbacks, referencing a violent event in Eddie's life. I think it a mistake to think of it as Oedipus, even though it ends in self- inflicted blindness.
And inside that is some street theater, the titular parade: a public street performance targeted against "the man." It involves gasmasks and a "corpse." Its mirrored by a repeated shot of the backs of several nude men (though some are likely women posing as men) with the last in the row probably our chief character with a flower between his cheeks.
Ted's Evaluation -- 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.
But then the better parts of me just enjoy the experience, part of which is wonder why the Japanese make the best French films. I think there's a discussion in there about cultural assertiveness and military failure seen as societal spaghettithinking.
This is an important film. It may matter to you. I recommend it.
Its not a story, though there is a small story in there: about two queens competing for the diva position at a transvestite club. Its about roles and masks and sight. It has within it a filmmaker and a radical film that we see from time to time. The film he is making blurs into the film we are seeing, with characters being interviewed both in character and as actors. We sometimes see the filming.
Imposed on both of these threads are a collection of flashbacks, referencing a violent event in Eddie's life. I think it a mistake to think of it as Oedipus, even though it ends in self- inflicted blindness.
And inside that is some street theater, the titular parade: a public street performance targeted against "the man." It involves gasmasks and a "corpse." Its mirrored by a repeated shot of the backs of several nude men (though some are likely women posing as men) with the last in the row probably our chief character with a flower between his cheeks.
Ted's Evaluation -- 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.