Wyrd War Presents: BURST CITY (1982) at Hollywood Theatre

Wyrd War hereby summons all battle rockers to assemble at Hollywood Theatre on Saturday May 31. 2025 at 7:30pm for a maximum volume screening of Gakuryu (Sogo) Ishii’s dystopian punk rock musical BURST CITY (1982)!

BURST CITY is one of the most daring experimental films of the so-called “lost decade” of contemporary Japanese cinema. A commercial failure, and still woefully underappreciated in the U.S., Ishii’s fast and loose epic planted its flag in the toxic compost of MAD MAX (1979), RUDE BOY (1980) and THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (1981), and inspired generations of independent filmmakers to break free from conservative values and traditional storytelling in favor of a sort of ecstatic narrative propulsion.

The hyperkinetic storyline pits two rival bands and their misfit squatter tribes against battle cops, petty criminals and yakuza thugs who are determined to establish a nuclear power plant within the industrial wasteland of their dark future turf. Or something like that. The real beauty of the film is its snarling, choppy, uncompromising middle finger ethos and swaggering style. Starring members of popular Fukuoka and Tokyo-based punk bands, BURST CITY hurtles through gritty 16mm concert footage like a misguided ballistic missile toward a truly cathartic and incendiary climax. “THIS IS NOT AN EXPLOSIVE MOVIE…THIS IS A MOVIE EXPLOSION!”

You may also like the following events from WYRD WAR:

• Next month, 8th June, 03:00 pm, Wyrd War Presents: DEMONS (1985) with Geretta Geretta LIVE (undead) in person! in Portland
• Next month, 18th June, 07:30 pm, Wyrd War Presents: WIRED FOR CHAOS (2024) in Portland
• This July, 18th July, 10:30 am, Wyrd War Presents: THE DAY OF THE DAGGER MOON! Toody Cole & Friends LIVE at Enchanted Forest in Turner

Also check out other Entertainment events in Portland, Arts events in Portland, Theatre events in Portland.