Runtime: 83 minutes
Directed by: Seijun Suzuki
Starring: Hiroyuki Nagato, Yuji Kodaka, Mayumi Shimizu, Sanae Nakahara, Shoichi Ozawa
From: Nikkatsu
Runtime: 71 minutes
Directed by: Seijun Suzuki
Starring: Tamio Kawaji, Yoshiko Nezu, Sayuri Yoshinaga, Shihago Nakagawa, Shinsuke Ashida
From: Nikkatsu
Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: Seijun Suzuki
Starring: Jo Shisado, Tamio Kawaji, Reiko Sassamori, Nobuo Kaneko, Kinzo Shin
From: Nikkatsu
Neither of these three movies are the most famous one Suzuki have done, yet are all interesting for their own reasons. All three will be posted below, in different fonts:
No, not a movie about American football.
That is a zero instead of an O, so it is not about a defensive player trying to penetrate the offensive line during a game of football. Rather, this early work from Seijun Suzuki (back when he was a stock director at the Nikkatsu studio) concerns a drug trafficking ring between Tokyo and Hong Kong. A pair of reporters from competing newspapers not only cover it but directly get involved in trying to crack the case. It was nice to see Japanese newspaper reporters NOT be involved with Gamera or Godzilla.
Anyhow, of course the reporters are polar opposites despite knowing each other for years. Nishina is a by the book person who has strong morals; Katori, on the other hand, is incredibly amoral, to the point that he sets people up in order to create stories he can cover, not to mention sleep with a female drug dealer for the point of advancing his investigation. He is not quite as bad as Lou Bloom... yet his sister gets involved and even then doesn't seem to care all that much. Along the way, you hear a quality jazz score as they explore interesting locations across Tokyo-including an amusement park-and the story isn't as simple as it first appears; the locations in the final act were somewhat surprising to me.
This does not have too much flair yet was still shot nicely and for what sounds like a standard programmer, the filmmaking, the characters, some action beats and a story which is a little convoluted but never becomes impenetrable... this meant that a movie I had no knowledge of until last night was an entertaining yarn. Eventually I'll get to Suzuki's most famous works but both this and Take Aim at the Police Van (seen a few months ago) were pretty enjoyable so another stop or two will be made before I get to those.
Once I get back to the director it'll be his more famous work but there are other things I want/need to check out before then; it could be some time. As it's on the Criterion Channel and the plot intrigued me, I gave this a whirl. Teenage angst, indeed.
A group of teenagers are followed during a few days in the summer. Several subplots are shown, although two eventually are focused on in this 71 minute picture. A young lady just discovered she unexpectedly became pregnant and wishes “to have it dealt with”... and the crux of this is Jiro, a young man who seems to have a decent lot in life (he does fine in school, for example) yet loses his mind over his widowed mom's relationship with a man who financially supports them. Jiro is a stereotypical teenager... overly cocky, rash, impudent, irrational, and emotional. He's not unstoppable-he gets knocked down to the ground (sometimes literally) and this only fuels his fire and causes his decision-making to become even worse.
Most of this teenagers are not the type you will like, even if they go to clubs where the 1960 version of J-Pop is played by bands that sing in Japanese and English, or they like the African-American jazz saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. Them acting like punks is one thing... some also do some pretty vile things. Jiro himself turns out to be a pretty rotten person-much worse than a typical teen-with how he even treats his own mother, to list one of many examples. The women members of this clan are not exempt from deplorable behavior-for example, a girl becomes infatuated w/ Jiro and follows him around like a puppy dog; he allows it. Of course many of the adults look at them derisively although some are sympathetic.
Of course this has a groovy jazz score and of course it was shot well, even if not over the top with style and flamboyance. The downfall of Jiro was told with a fast pace that slowed down at the right moments to let things breathe. World War II and its impact on creating a divide between the generations is a key point... the war was how Jiro lost his father, after all. Both English titles attached to this (The Madness of Youth and Everything Goes Wrong) are apropos to the plot. Once I get to Suzuki at his more experimental, with any luck those movies will be as enjoyable as those created when he had to work within the boundaries of the Nikkatsu studio.
Yes, this movie's title was one of the reasons it was viewed.
My first Suzuki movie in color, this was a film I was hoping to enjoy more than for its bold title. Thankfully, this light in tone picture was a good time. First things first, though... the star is Joe Shisido, who Suzuki fans will of course know for Youth of the Beast and Branded to Kill. Before watching this, I was aware of one bizarre detail: for some reason he had cheek implants; no, not the type that those horrible Kardashian/Jenner women have had! I mean cheeks as in his face. Why he thought that was a good idea is a mystery to me; no disrespect to someone who just passed away this past January. It was hard not to think about that as I viewed his performance.
Anyhow, the plot is that Jo plays a detective who assists the police in their attempt to stop a feud involving warring Yakuza clans and their interest in munitions from American army bases that were-and still are-in the country. Naturally, that is part of the satirical message that the director was able to sneak into the movie. Capitalistic interests are also a factor... there was a message in a Pepsi truck being used as part of a big shootout in the opening scene, and as it was open-air in the bag, various soda bottles were shot up.
Plenty of action scenes are mixed into the plot as Jo goes undercover into one of the Yakuza gangs. It is shot rather boldly; this includes one gun battle that is shot from far away, just because. Singing also plays a role... but I don't want to spoil too many of the left turns this takes throughout. As I expected, plenty of jazz music is heard, which is just groovy to me. Some of it being Dixieland jazz was a pleasant surprise. I know "Dixie" is a bad word now but that's really the best descriptor for it.
Anyhow, as people seem to prefer when I am not as long-winded, the only other things I'll say is that much of the movie is chromatically either in gray or brown; presumably this was done to make the colorful moments stand out all the more. Also, apparently Suzuki is a fan of MG sports cars.
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