ron

Muscle

“Everything is an illusion, like in the movies.” One of the most horrifying, romantic films about queer desire I’ve ever watched. Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us. I’m sort of speechless.

nathansnook

Muscle

“Don’t steal stories from movies!” In Mishima’s Forbidden Colors (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8088602390), he writes: “𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭-𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘶𝘢𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘶𝘢𝘭, 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘴, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰-𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.” I think being queer is always this foray and foraging of fantasy and fascination. A curiosity that kills itself by the destruction of what is not real, all presented here in a lowbrow mystery propelled by guilt and yearning. I think that’s all our loving, guilt and yearning, until we end up in the same old places, the same fragrant memories, to bring us to necessary conclusions, the hard ones that seem impossible from a distance, but one Satō reaches by way of light, shadow, the hustle and bustle of late 70’s Tokyo, and, of course, horned up motherfuckers in this delicious ピンク映画. In its short run time, it feels like a Mishima story that he would’ve written if he had not taken his own life. I’ve always wondered if Mishima would ever come around his perception of women if he had just stayed a little longer in life. And would like to know what Mishima thought of Pasolini! Perfect in my eyes as a bold pinku, unafraid of the kinks it wants to present in its vivid and transgressive plot-forward sadism.