Wednesday, November 12

One of Terayama’s most challenging works, Emperor Tomato Ketchupis ostensibly about a young boy who is the emperor of a country in which children have overthrown the adults. This underground masterpiece startlingly attacks the taboo subjects of adolescent sexuality as well as the tyranny of both church and state. Lacking a conventional narrative, the film’s gritty, often over-exposed imagery at times resembles a home movie gone horribly wrong. Set in a dystopian Japan, its revolutionary gaze is as much sexual as it is political. Equal parts anarchy and poetry, Emperor Tomato Ketchup is Terayama using the cinematic canvas to create a work that is revolutionary in both form and spirit. Opening the show is Tucson’s own band of mysteriously costumed furry ambient aberrancy, Buppoosh!!