The Vintagent Classics: God Speed You! Black Emperor

GOD SPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR (1976)

Run Time: 1:30:00
A Film By: Mitsuo Yanagimachi
Key Cast: The Boys in ‘Black Emperor’ of the Shinjuku Branch

FILM MAKERS

God Speed You! Black Emperor (ゴッド・スピード・ユー! Black Emperor) is an independently produced debut documentary film by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi. Shot in black-and-white 16mm over two years and completed in 1976. Until then, Yanagimachi had been working as a production assistant at Toei Company [giants of the industry] and would move on as a filmmaker with a commitment to the causes of the disillusioned and disadvantaged.

The film’s sympathies lie with the fledgling members of Black Emperor’s Shinjuku branch, and sets its longest scenes in the claustrophobic interiors that house these youths: tiny apartments, overstuffed family restaurants, rehabilitative spaces for delinquents. In these brightly lit chambers, the young recruits sit still, heads bowed, scrutinized by their parents and peers… The film does not ask “why” the Bosozoku are the way they are— it simply takes the time to see what they see and hear what they hear. Facing an overwhelmingly sensationalized, essentialized phenomenon, this approach yielded remarkable results. – Read more at Sabukaru

The Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor named themselves after the film.