Review of Cruel Story of Youth (1960) by Tony B — 29 Apr 2016

Nagisa Oshima's second film is a key entry in the Japanese new wave of the 1960's but is still quite conventional by his later standards. Miyuki Kuwano plays a motherless high school girl ("Mako") who comes under the influence of bad boy "Kiyoshi" (played by Yusuke Kawazu) who seems to care little about anything or anyone.

He uses violence to get his way (including with Mako) and sells his body to an older woman for money and favours. She is hopelessly and helplessly naïve but sees value in rebelling against her father, older sister, and school.

Together, they develop a scam to rob older guys who pick her up on the street but this doesn't always turn out well. Most of the time, they are alienated and confused, not caring about the consequences of their actions.

Oshima is purposefully sensational and melodramatic here, commenting explicitly on post-war Japan's social problems. But he also uses the widescreen format to create dazzling colour arrangements, bordering on the experimental and he wilfully defies viewer expectations (as in a long scene where Kiyoshi simply eats an apple in giant close-up).

Oshima would take this approach further in the rest of his career but here he sows the seeds of his later rebellion.