The Red Spectacles (1987)

Original title

紅い眼鏡

Directed by

Mamoru Oshii

Genre

science fiction film, political thriller film

Country

Japan

Runtime

1h 56m

Rated

15

Rating

6.5 of 10 from 45 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A former police officer returns to Tokyo after years in exile. He finds the city transformed into a strange and disorienting place.

surrealbleakslow-pacedcerebralunsettlingmelancholicdreamlike

What happens

The Red Spectacles (紅い眼鏡, Akai Megane) is a 1987 Japanese science fiction neo-noir film directed by Mamoru Oshii, co-written with Kazunori Ito, and starring Shigeru Chiba and Mako Hyōdō. The first film in Oshii's Kerberos Saga, but the second installment overall after its radio drama companion piece While Waiting for the Red Spectacles (which aired a month prior), the film follows Kōichi Todome, a former police tactical unit officer who, after fleeing Japan following a failed rebellion by his dissolved unit, returns several years later per a promise to his colleagues, only to find Tokyo in a surreal and unrecognizable state. The Red Spectacles was released on February 7, 1987. It would be followed by several works intended to explain and expand the film's universe, the most notable of them being Kerberos Panzer Cop. The film was followed by two prequels—StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops in 1991, and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade in 1999—that adapted the established stories and settings from Kerberos Panzer Cop. Kamui Fujiwara adapted the film into a manga in 2024. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Tokyo Blackout (1987)
• Hell Target (1987)
• The Drifting Classroom (1987)
• The Adventure of Denchu Kozo (1987)
• Nineteen (1987)
• Phoenix: Space Chapter (1987)
• Cyclops (1987)
• Zegen (1987)