Capone Cries A Lot

In Seijun Suzuki's especially rare and irreverent Capone Cries A Lot, a traditional naniwa-bushi singer (Kenichi Hagiwara) migrates to 1920s San Francisco in hopes of popularizing the art overseas but is met by an audience that finds his work unbearable. He mistakes Al Capone for the US president and convinces himself that impressing the gangster is the key to his success. Sake becomes a major issue during Prohibition, Japanese and Italians brawl in Western-style saloons, the jazz band that lives under the bridge plays a hybrid blues-rōkyoku tune with our hero singer... Through a disarming and absurd mix of American iconography, Capone Cries A Lot refracts and upbraids how US imperialism and racism permeates Japanese-American relations and the whole of American society. (Seijun Suzuki, Japan, 1985, 130 min.) In Japanese with English subtitles