Burst City is a 1982 Japanese dystopian punk rock musical/action film directed by Gakuryu Ishii. The film centres around a bunch of punk and musicians that fight both each other and the dystopian police force in this post-apocalyptic world. Burst City is a film about the pure ideology of punk a in your face brutal experience that is unlike any other.
The film starts with spread up POV footage of a bike going past an incestualised wasteland. This links into a major theme of the film begging the industrialisation of Japan and the fear of the new emerging society within this technological future. The shots of the bikers highlighting the countercultural nature of the film. The film is ultimately about the ideology of punk as a way angsty teenage youthful rebellion. The film is a showcase of masculinity as in this world the people that thrive are the youth. Not only this but the film acts as a sort of proto-Akira in that the industrial wasteland of the film is very similar to that of neo-Tokyo. This is contrasted with the yakuza being driven around by a nice car showcasing the ones that are oppressing this worlds society. The film then shows a nuclear PowerStation project billboard catching fire. This is very much inline hit the ideology of punk as it demonstrates the anarchy of the film. Burst City highlights the problems of Japan being how japans ever-growing industrialisation will lead to the end of civilisation.
The film the transitions to an industrial punk wasteland were a punk band gets ready for their concert before preforming. The film then has a dance sequence/musical number about the city as the yakuza come in to meet with a prostitute. The film in effectively a collection of sequences such as a sped up drag race were on of the cars flips over. Burst City is about capturing the ideology of punk. The film is a showcase of masculinity showing through the lens of angsty teenage youthful rebellion. Not only this but both the punk and biker segment the film is very much two halves that merge into one by the end. The one genuinely emotional journey in the film is that of the prostitute and her boyfriend who want to escape this dead-end town as they do genially love each other. It turns out that the bikers have spent the night in the punk areas they get into a fight until one of the bosses of the area lest them stay. As this is happing the people in change of the powerplant get fired leading to a fight. As well as this the mechanic that gets fired early in the film ends up in the punk wasteland as the yakuza try and get rid of the punks.
The businessman in change of the nuclear power plant under the thumb of the yakuza wants the plant to be built and to do so they must get rid of the punks as they are building on there home. This again reflects the problems of Japan in how this overindustrialisation of Japanese society will lead to the end of civilisation. The punks then get into a battle with another band as they play. This causes a blackout the police come in and take control. As this happens the bikers go into the punk area looking for the yakuza boss that killed their biker’s brother as they get into a fight. These effects the themes of masculinity within the film in how fighting is an integral part of these characters lives. This again is very much showcases the angsty teenage youthful rebellion of the film of young men getting into a fight. The youth gangs are portrayed to be out of control in the slums as they get into a fight. This again reflects the frustrations at the time in how the youth are angry at the system, this again showcases the problems of japan in how the youth go against the government and again showcase the industrialization of Japan as these people have been left behind. The bikers end up getting their bike mended in a weird industrial area full of crazy people. People then sign up to work in the powerplant. This again links into the frustrations that plagued japans at the time being industrialization. This industrialisation is shown to creep into every element of Japanese society leading to the end of civilisation. The punks end up getting into trouble with the police and fight them as the bikers dig ditches. The film is structured like a big, long music video made up of different segments.
The emotional heart of the film is very much the story of the prostitute and her boyfriend who have a conversation as she doesn’t want to work anymore but they need the money to leave the city as he buys her a shirt showing he cares about her. The biker in the film only sees his life as riding his motorcycle as with sped up motorway footage he sees people smashing their sanitary up as they are the same people that want to destroy the punk’s shanty town. In the third act the yakuza comes into punk’s shantytown. This is down by everyone walking into a truck with the promise of liquor put are trapped as the yakuza destroy the town until they are freed. In the most emotionally effective scene in the film another mob boss has sex with the prostitute and in a fit of delusional rage kills her. Her boyfriend then finds her and kills the mob boss in a very tragic and emotionally effective scene.
The rival band then start fighting and laying as a riot breaks out. The riot police then show up ass all the punk’s team up to take them down. As this is happening the bikers break into the area and fight their way through, as the bikers and the punk’s team up to take down the yakuza and the biker kills the yakuza boss. The riot police then turn up to stop them but the punk’s battel them as one of the punks’ bands explodes in an electrical fire. The yakuza are about to kill one of the bikers when the other bikers come in to save him. The bikers and the punks then team up to take down the yakuza and the police as the biker gets his revenge buy killing the yakuza boss and riding off with a recruit. The dystopian police force then shows up and starts firing destroying the place all seems lost until the punks manage to overthrow the dystopian police force. The film ends with the police and punks engaged in a battle as a showdown happens between the signer of the punk band and the police chief the punk rases his fist in the air yelling “don’t fuck with me” as the punks celebrate and the bikers disappear into the night showing that the future can be saved by punk.
Burst City is a film about punk. It shows that the ideology of punk the anti-establishment anti-authoritarian believes are what is needed to save the world from these systems that are trying to control and destroy people’s lives.