An Actor's Revenge Kagi (Odd Obsession)

Tonight's double feature shows off the perverse side of Ichikawa, featuring character studies of a murderous female impersonator and an impotent, jealous old man bent on restoring his virility by any means.

An Actor's Revenge is the last word in wide-screen, gender-bending "kinky Kabuki," focusing on a professional female impersonator out to get revenge on his parents' murderer. Hailed as "a masterpiece" by Susan Sontag, it's a deliriously stylized spectacle set to bursts of cocktail lounge jazz. (1963; 114 mins.)

Also known by its English title of Odd Obsession, Kagi is a perverse comedy about pornography, voyeurism, and murder. It focuses on an old man who involves his entire family in his desperate attempts to restore his virility. As Pauline Kael writes, "I don't think I've ever seen a movie that gave such a feeling of flesh." (1959; 96 mins.)