Ep. 123 A Snake Of June

Over a decade after his high-octane cyber-punk metal mutilation
fetishism monster debut Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989),
director-producer-writer-cinematographer-editor-star Shinya
Tsukamoto truly discovered himself as an artist and filmmaker with
the blue-tinted, rain-drenched fever nightmare A Snake of June
(2002). His seventh feature film, it follows three characters: a
sexually-repressed telephone counselor, her hygiene-obsessed
husband and a mysterious, spying interloper who will disrupt and
upend their domestic sterilization. Hosts Christopher Funderburg
and John Cribbs revisit every monochromatic corner of this
beautifully strange film, which is somehow persistently cruel yet
deeply empathetic to the three characters who find themselves
trapped within the oppressive confines of their urban surroundings.
How much of this is a self-critique by Tsukamoto (who also plays
the creepy, disembodied voyeur) on the exploitative nature of
cinema itself? Is there a safe middleground between cultural
subjugation and unrestrained liberation? There's a lot to discuss
about this deceptively short masterwork. Support our Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke All Pink Smoke Podcast episodes are
made available a week early to our Patreon subscribers, the most
open-minded and good-natured of all audiences. The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea
for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"