is a Japanese

dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

punk rock

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...

. Released in 1982, the film was directed by

Gakuryū Ishii , formerly known as , is a Japanese filmmaker known for his stylistic punk films, which helped spark the cyberpunk movement in Japan. A number of contemporary filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino have cited Ishii's films as an influence. Ear ...

. Primarily a showcase for various specific punk rock bands of the time such as

The Roosters are a Japanese rock band formed in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1979. Their music has mixed rock and roll, punk rock, British blues, ska, and new wave. Originally active from 1979 to 1988, they performed at the 2004 Fuji Rock Festival before restarti ...

The Rockers The Rockers were an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty who teamed from 1985 to 1992. The team worked for NWA Central States Wrestling, the American Wrestling Association, Continental Wrestli ...

, and

The Stalin were a Japanese punk rock band formed in June 1980, by leader and vocalist Michiro Endo. After numerous member changes, he disbanded the group in February 1985. In May 1987 Michiro formed a group called Video Stalin, which mostly made vi ...

, the film is also purely demonstrative of the culture and attitude of the punk rock community of Japan in the mid-to-late 1970s and the early 1980s, and is considered a defining film of that subculture.

Plot

The plot is not very complex, as much of the action and drama of the film relies on musical interludes, character interactions, and commentary on the

class system A social class is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle and lower classes. Membership in a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, incom ...

in the film's fictional universe. What plot there is follows two different threads. In the first thread, residents in a

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

future attempt to rebel against the construction of a nuclear power plant in their part of Tokyo. They race cars, party, and brawl to the music of The Rockers and The Stalin. In the second, a small mute and his hard-core friend ride their bikes around the city, hunting down the person who murdered the mute's brother. The two are

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

s. The two threads combine when the bikers meet the power plant construction workers and discover that the oppressive businessman who runs the power plant is the same man which they have been searching for. The bikers, workers, and punks all band together to take on the businessman and his

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

buddies. The "battle police" arrive, and everything erupts into violence.

Production

Ishii created ''Burst City'' right in the middle of the punk movement in Japan, and many contemporary punk musicians took on leading acting roles in the film, as well as performing songs in the film. Ishii wanted to feature musicians from all three of the major punk hubs in Japan:

were from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, Machizo Machida was from

Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

, and The Roosters and the Rockers were from

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

. The cast and crew lived on the post-apocalyptic set that they built for the duration of the shoot.Brown, Todd (28 August 2006)
"''Burst City''/''Electric Dragon 80000V'' Review"

ScreenAnarchy Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films ...

. Retrieved 29 July 2018. To give the film a fresh, revolutionary feel, Ishii experimented with a lot of different techniques. The editing style is extremely fast and chaotic, and some scenes combine a mix of undercranked shots and regular speed shots with striking results. Musical numbers and scenes of performers getting ready backstage are shot in a documentary style. The backgrounds are populated with thousands of extras in eccentric costumes and hairstyles, all captured in grainy 16mm film.Ishii, Yuriko (6 November 2015)
80年代の伝説的カルト映画『爆裂都市』がブルーレイ化
Cinematoday. Retrieved 28 July 2018.Abrams, Simon (14 July 2016)
"2016 Japan Cuts Festival Preview"

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

. Retrieved 29 July 2018.

Release

The film was distributed by the Toei studio. It was later released on Region 1 DVD by Discotek in June 2006, and then on Blu-ray in January 2016 by Toei. It was released on Blu-Ray on Region 1 by Arrow Video in November 2020.

Reception

The film is highly regarded among critics and audiences alike. Its hyperkinetic, unrelentingly high energy style was wildly different from other films of the period and extremely innovative. The film is also regarded for being purely inspired from music, and the way the punk aesthetic, culture, and music exerts its influence over every element, scene, and character in the film. It has been called one of the "starting points in contemporary Japanese cinema", along with Ishii's own ''

Shuffle Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome. __TOC__ Techniques Over ...

'', '' Panic in High School'', and '' Crazy Thunder Road''. It is debatable whether the cinematic innovations of yesterday translate to viewers today. Todd Brown of

argued that "while ''Burst City'' is clearly a watershed film, it stands up better as a cultural document than as a film, per se," but Simon Abrams wrote on

that the director "perfectly captures his subjects' prickly, defiant attitude, making ''Burst City'' a defiant (and still-relevant) reaction to nuclear proliferation."

Soundtrack

The ''Burst City'' original soundtrack was released by SEE SAW on March 5, 1982.

Releases

Tracklist

References

External links

* * {{Sōgo Ishii 1982 films Punk films 1980s musical films 1980s science fiction action films 1980s vigilante films 1980s Japanese-language films Films directed by Sōgo Ishii Japanese science fiction action films Cyberpunk films Discotek Media Films about social class Films set in the future Films set in Tokyo 1980s dystopian films Japanese films about revenge Japanese vigilante films Japanese musical films Yakuza films 1980s Japanese films