WARNING: This episode contains discussions of disturbing and controversial subject matter, including violence and sexual assault.
This episode features a discussion of the underrated Japanese writer/director Takashi Ishii with returning guest Fred Barrett. Fred came on last season to discuss Hisayasu Sato after writing a phenomenal piece on Pink Films for the Big Ship. When I asked Fred to come back for another deep dive, he suggested we tackle Takashi Ishii, who is most well known for writing Evil Dead Trap, the Angel Guts series, and a handful of other seedy crime flicks that came out in the 90's.
Who knew that once we looked under the hood of this provocative filmmaker, we'd find a ton of uncomfortable yet striking ideas. We discuss a lot of potentially triggering subject matter, specifically sexual assault, as it's a running theme in his films and with a perspective that may be hard to wrap your head around. So heads up for that! Despite the dark material discussed, it was great to reconnect with Fred and explore these films.
Read Fred's piece on Pink Films here: https://www.thebigship.org/post/pinkfilms
Follow Fred here:
https://fredbarrett.substack.com/
https://letterboxd.com/electricdreams/
https://twitter.com/fred_beretta
https://www.instagram.com/electricdreams92/