Northwest Film Forum

This satire of colonialism, starring Ken Ogata, is about a hairdresser who is sent to Manchuria to spy on the Russians, where he becomes the kingpin of a string of brothels throughout Southeast Asia. Iheiji Muraoka contributes to the government's Asian ambitions by selling women overseas. Imamura "wanted to depict Meiji nationalism going recklessly out of control"-- an ironic commentary on the hopelessly insular outlook of the Japanese national character that remains to this present day.

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"Of Imamura's late films, Zegen is the most like his early masterworks: epic, energetic, sexually impudent, and grotesquely funny. A satire about colonialism, commerce, and carnality"-James Quandt, Cinematheque Ontario