“The Queen of Villains” is a conventional coming-of-age tale about a young woman’s route to empowerment and self-discovery—only it all takes place in the body-slamming, arm-twisting world of Japanese professional wrestling.
The narrative of the Netflix series, which debuted last month, centers on Dump Matsumoto, a real-life wrestling legend from the 1980s who was raised in poverty and had an abusive or frequently absent father.
Matsumoto claimed that she was raised with anger and went on to develop in her wrestling persona a vicious, almost camp villainous role known as a “heel,” complete with absurd facial paint like that of a Kabuki, chains, sticks, and an ugly frown. She towered above everyone as a representation of bold, rebellious womanhood.
“I tried my hardest to be evil,” Matsumoto remarked.
Matsumoto, a big woman with a kind grin, nevertheless makes it a point to vehemently reject that she was ever lovely or to accept the fact that a lot of people in Japan, particularly women, adore her.
“In matches, I still thrash people around.” I stuck forks in them and made them bleed,” she said, adding, “All the individuals who appear to be kind are the truly bad ones.”
“The Queen of Villains” centers on the friendship between Matsumoto and Chigusa Nagayo, members of the well-liked Crush Gals tag team. In addition to acting as a trainer and choreographer, Nagayo advised and directed the series’ stylized wrestling sequences.
The battles between Matsumoto and the Crush Gals are still spoken about by Japanese professional wrestling enthusiasts, including the ones they fought in the U.S.
The actresses in the series spent two years training for their roles. They gained weight and muscle, and learned techniques like the “giant swing,” in which a wrestler grabs her opponent’s legs and moves in a dizzying circle, or the “flying knee kick,” which involves a jump and kick to the body while airborne.
The trick in professional wrestling is to execute the punches and body slams convincingly but in a controlled way to avoid serious injuries. A wrestler also must know how to fall properly.
One key fight scene took a month to film as the actors went over each move, again and again.
“Dump played a role to be hated by the entire nation,” said Yuriyan Retriever, a professional comedian who stars as Matsumoto in the series.
“Previously, there was a limit, maybe even unintentionally, beyond which I couldn’t go. But when I played Dump, all those emotions had to come out and be expressed,” she said.
She felt like she was no longer playing a role, she said, but that she had become Dump Matsumoto.
“It’s frightening to be hated, and I don’t think anyone wants to be hated,” Retriever said.
“When I finished a cut, I was crying. And my body was shaking. I can’t express it in words, but I understood all the pressures Dump must have felt.”
The series not only presents a women-beating-the-odds story against a backdrop of sexism and abusive management but it also captures the postwar period of the Showa-era in a way that feels authentic. The scenes used thousands of extras, many of them serious wrestling fans.
Some viewers say the real-life wrestling was more intense than the dramatized version in the new series.
Rionne McAvoy, an Australian filmmaker who as a professional wrestler was hit with a stick by Matsumoto, said: “The actors often fail to capture the intensity, grit and charisma required for these roles.”
But for most viewers, it’s real enough and heartbreaking.
“This is an eternal but emotional story portraying ordinary girls who passionately pursued a dream, found friendship and also themselves,” director Kazuya Shiraishi said.
“It gave me a chance to reflect on my own 15-year filmmaking career, what I truly want to be, what kind of films I want to make. I just wanted to tell their story, which is also everyone’s story.”
(AP)
