03/06/2025
📹 Our re-release of Akihiro Suzuki’s underground cult classic LOOKING FOR AN ANGEL — a blue, poignant, experimental film made for the gay pink film circuit and recently restored by its director to its rightful place in independant film history — screens early — tonight, June 3! — as part of the multi-city festival BLEAK WEEK: CINEMA OF DESPAIR (which returns this June in LA, Chicago, Portland, Minneapolis, New York; Boston, Dallas and London in the UK!)
It’s not straight, gay, q***r, bisexual, non-sexual or p**n. [It] is an anti-heterosexist movie.” - Akihiro Suzuki
“Akihiro Suzuki’s debut recaptures the waywardness of some early New York ‘underground’ films with its mix of sexual uncertainties, memories, regrets and all-too-fleeting friendships. Shinpei (Suehiro Akira) is a country boy alone in Tokyo, maybe gay, maybe not, invited to a party by a girl he hasn’t seen in a while. It turns out to be a wake for Takachi (Imaizumi Koichi), a gay guy who appeared in straight p**no tapes; he was apparently murdered by a casual pick-up. During the night, Shinpei pieces together fragments of Takachi’s story: his friendship with a beautiful rent-boy, his move to Kochi, where ‘the boys are like angels,’ his return to Tokyo… and his heartbreaking plea for gentleness on the last night of his life.” - Tony Rayns
