The setting for the film is a dystopian Japan (possibly in the future or perhaps an alternate timeline). Big business has combined forces with the yakuza and they want to build a nuclear power plant in the middle of the city. The locals don't take kindly to this intrusion and try to fight back. The side plot concerns two punk bands called The Rockers and The Stalin (who were mostly comprised of real life punk musicians) who are playing sets to giant bombastic crowds who need a release from their boring lives. There are also some Mad Max style bikers roaming around searching for a murderer. All three of these groups collide in the third act into an all out orgy of violence, mayhem, fire, and music the likes of which had never been seen before on film.
When the camera isn't busy dashing around exploring adrenaline-filled punk performances, it occasionally drifts into impressionistic territory, lingering in close-up details on the lips of someone taking a slow drag off of a cigarette or milling around in the dilapidated hideouts of the bands. It feels like a combination of a cyberpunk sci-fi film and a music documentary with each of the sides spilling into each other without warning.
This "burst city" is not unlike the bloated corpse of a dead animal, with its guts spilling out all over the street, slick and grimy. All authority is not to be trusted and corporations, the yakuza, and the so-called "battle police" have combined into one enormous symbolic boot stomping on the face of everyone who dares to question them. Burst City isn't really concerned with the details as much as its trying to convey a feeling of rebellion and freedom
Arrow's release of this work is fantastic with a beautiful 1080p transfer of the original 16mm print--it's nice and grainy which adds to the aesthetic. Tom Mes provides an illuminating commentary that covers Sogo Ishii's inspirations, the state of punk music at the time, and lots of background on how the film came to be. The two interviews with Sogo Ishii and Yoshiharu Tezuka are fascinating as well, especially Tezuka's as he goes into the jishu eiga era of Japanese filmmaking in great detail.
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original lossless mono Japanese soundtrack
Optional English subtitles
Brand new audio commentary by Japanese film expert Tom Mes
The Punk Spirit of ’82: Sōgo Ishii on Burst City, an exclusive new 56-minute interview with the director
Bursting Out, an exclusive 27-minute interview with the academic and independent filmmaker Yoshiharu Tezuka on jishu eiga and the making of Burst City
Original Trailer
Image Gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mark Player
--Michelle Kisner