16 January 2012
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo is a film that delves into the ineffable
mystery of Japan’s age-old love affair with insects. A labyrinthine
meditation on nature, beauty, philosophy and Japanese culture that might
just make you question if your ‘instinctive’ repulsion to bugs is
merely a trick of western conditioning.
Like a detective story, the film untangles the web of influences
behind Japan’s captivation with insects. It opens in modern-day Tokyo
where a single beetle recently sold for $90,000 then slips back to the
early 1800s, to the first cricket-selling business and the development
of haiku and other forms of insect literature and art. Through history
and adventure, Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo travels all the way back in
time to stories of the fabled first emperor who named Japan the “Isle of
the Dragonflies”.
Along the way the film takes side trips to Zen temples and Buddhist
Shrines, nature preserves and art museums in its quest for the
inspirations that moved Japan into this fascination while other cultures
hurtled off towards an almost universal and profound fear of insects.
After many excellent screenings throughout the world the film is now available to own: Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo at Amazon
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