Presented by CCP

The first film in Japanese director Yoshishiga Yoshida’s trilogy on Japanese radicalism, Eros + Massacre is an experimental exploration of anarchism, feminism, and free love in Japanese society. The film threads together two plotlines, one historical, the other contemporary. The first follows fictionalized versions of early 20th century Japanese anarchists Sakae Ōsugi, Hori Yasuko, Noe Itō, and Ichiko Kamichika. Yasuko, Itō, and Kamichika, all women, are lovers of Ōsugi. All are nominally believers in free love. However, the gender norms of Japanese society and uneven socio-economic status between the four complicate the situation, leading them to existential questions regarding the line separating polyamory from polygamy and sexual partnership from sexual exploitation. The second plot line follows two contemporary Japanese students who are studying Ōsugi’s theories of sexual liberation. As the film moves back and forth in time, as well as between fact and fiction, the two plots begin to merge in unexpected ways.