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Grass Labyrinth
Movie

Grass Labyrinth

1979 • Unknown

Woke Score
2
out of 10

Plot

Akira is haunted by a "bouncing ball" song that he remembers his mother singing when he was a small child, and now on the verge of a sexually active adulthood, he wants to find the origins of the song. The young man ostensibly wanders into a time-warp in which aspects from his childhood and adulthood mix together. In this never-never land he comes across a beautiful woman/witch who is lost inside the labyrinth of her mansion, just as the young man is lost in the labyrinth of time — and on some levels, perhaps the labyrinth of his subconscious.

Overall Series Review

Grass Labyrinth is an avant-garde, experimental Japanese film from 1979 that dives into a young man’s subconscious mind as he attempts to recall the lyrics of a childhood lullaby sung by his mother. The narrative is not a conventional story but a surreal, dreamlike excursion steeped in symbolism, obsession, and sexual repression, centering on a strong Oedipal theme. The protagonist, Akira, navigates a labyrinth of personal memory and desire, encountering archetypal figures like his absent mother, a beautiful woman/witch, a nymphomaniac, and a prostitute. The film’s focus is intensely psychological, using macabre and erotic imagery—including a scene of a nude body covered in calligraphy—to explore the protagonist's transition into sexual maturity. The film's content is deeply personal and psychoanalytic, existing outside the framework of contemporary socio-political critiques or identity movements.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The film is an entirely Japanese production with an all-Japanese cast, focusing on a deeply personal, Oedipal, and psychological journey. The narrative conflict is a private quest for lost memory and sexual identity, not a lecture on systemic oppression, race, or intersectional hierarchy. Character value is tied to their role in the protagonist’s subconscious drama, not their immutable characteristics.

Oikophobia3/10

The film is a product of the Japanese 'Angura' (underground/anti-establishment) artistic movement. Its critique is directed at conventional Japanese social structures and modern life through the use of twisted folklore and surreal, ritualistic imagery. The focus is on a psychological retreat into memory and the macabre, which functions as deconstruction of one's own immediate culture, but it does not engage in a hostility toward Western civilization or ancestors, as the definition requires for a high score.

Feminism2/10

The gender dynamic is defined by a Freudian Oedipal obsession, attraction, and sexual repression, with the primary female figures being archetypal—the distant mother, the witch/seductress, and the prostitute. The narrative is male-driven, focused on the protagonist’s sexual maturation. This presentation is hyper-sexualized and psychoanalytic, which runs counter to the modern 'Girl Boss' or anti-natalist tropes. Motherhood is a key, elusive psychological object, not framed as a 'prison' for the woman herself.

LGBTQ+2/10

The core of the plot is an investigation into heterosexual male development and Oedipal desire, explicitly focusing on the mother-son relationship and attraction to female figures. While the film is highly erotic and sexual, it maintains a normative male-female structure in its archetypes. There is no presence of 'centering alternative sexualities,' deconstruction of the family unit via queer theory, or discussion of gender ideology.

Anti-Theism3/10

As an avant-garde work, the film subverts and uses traditional or ritualistic elements, including a character who is a 'principal/priest/old man' and a troupe of 'demonic figures.' This suggests a general deconstruction of religious or societal authority common to anti-establishment art. However, the spiritual vacuum is a consequence of the protagonist's psychological break, and the primary target is not a specific traditional religion like Christianity, which is necessary for a high score in this category.