Smallpox Tale (1976)

The smallpox virus has created its own unique atmosphere in Terayama’s film where the skin of a bandaged adolescent and the surface of the filmic image are subjected to a bizarre ‘disturbance’ as snails cross the screen and nails are hammered into the skull of the ailing patient. Illness in this film is as much a psychic entity as a physical one and manifests itself in an array of theatrical tableaux from grotesque women rigorously brushing their teeth to a snooker game where the players in white face makeup behave like automata. A Tale of Smallpox uses a medical theme to chart the traumatic dream life of Terayama’s times, evincing deep-rooted concerns in the Japanese national psyche that hark back to the upheaval of Meiji modernisation and the devastation of World War Two.

Released Feb. 20, 1976 34 min None+

Genres: Fantasy, Short

Keywords: mdblist.imdb-short, mdblist.three-actors, imdb.bondage, imdb.shibari, imdb.kinbaku, imdb.mummification, imdb.nail + 17 more, imdb.smallpox, imdb.fire, imdb.flame, imdb.rope, imdb.surrealism, imdb.beach, imdb.parasol, imdb.ocean, imdb.nudity, imdb.mummy, imdb.brushing-teeth, imdb.female-nudity, imdb.male-nudity, imdb.avant-garde-short, imdb.experimental-short, imdb.independent-short, aspectratio.1-37-1