A Chaos of Flowers

Set in the Taisho era, which might be regarded as Japan's Hippie Phase, Hana no ran is a story about fashionable people without impulse control. Much of the action centers on a popular woman writer, the real-life poet Akiko Yosano, and her experiences among the literati of early 20th century Japan. Because of her independent, anti-war and often erotic poetry, she was a lightning rod for revolutionaries and other extremists, many of whom were destined to glamorous, yet ultimately pointless, deaths. The closest parallels might be the Byron/Shelley group or the people drawn to the Beat Generation.

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

Cast: Ken Ogata, Sayuri Yoshinaga, Keiko Matsuzaka, Kimiko Ikegami, Morio Kazama, Eri Ishida, Yoshiko Nakada, Mineko Nishikawa

Audience-only score — full critic data not yet in the ReelXO vault.