I was so delighted by one of my favorite films getting restored that I simply had to secure its American debut. With Yokohama BJ Blues‘ forthcoming Blu-ray release from Radiance, my screening series Amnesiascope will show the film on Monday, November 11––just under two weeks from today––at the Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research, constituting what I and its distributors believe (someone’s plenty free to prove otherwise) marks its first-ever theatrical screening in America, if not the entire continent. Those who love making year-end top 10 lists infused with the most possible esotericism would do well to attend.
More important, of course, that it’s occasion to either discover a film that’s long been secret cinephile currency––viewed mostly through WeTransfer emails, Google Drive downloads, and dark-web links––or, like me, finally see Eiichi Kudo’s anti-mystery neo-noir in the condition it deserves. Of all the events I’ve hosted through Amnesiascope this year, none make me prouder.
Ticket link is here; official description and new trailer below.
Amnesiascope is proud to present the North American theatrical premiere of Yokohama BJ Blues, Eiichi Kudo’s freshly restored neo-noir classic.
A loose Long Goodbye remake vis-à-vis Visconti’s Death in Venice capturing urban Japan at the height of ’80s decadence, Yokohama follows BJ, a bumbling private eye and part-time blues singer blamed for the murder of his best friend. Trying to clear his name, BJ uncovers a web of crooked cops, drug-dealing gangsters, the city’s underground gay and biker scenes, and his own past.
Long passed around cinephile circles in beat-up copies bearing handmade subs, Yokohama BJ Blues has never appeared stateside (or looked so sharp). Ahead of the film’s eventual status as out-and-out classic, Amnesiascope’s screening is prime opportunity to say you were there first.
The post Yokohama BJ Blues Makes U.S. Theatrical Premiere on November 11 from Amnesiascope first appeared on The Film Stage.
