I've managed to see my Masumura films all in the wrong order starting with the mesmerising and transgressive treat, 'Blind beast', then the very tough, 'Red angel' and the beautiful, 'Manji', I come to this his very first film. And what a charming, fresh and invigorating movie it is. The comparisons with the, then still to come, French New Wave, are certainly understandable and if this does not have the clear stylish stamp of a Godard, it mixes arty, almost abstract long shots with exciting hand held efforts. The minimal story does not get in the way of the central young couple, who are persuasive in their roles and at times almost enchanting. We get glimpses of what might be a distinctly low-rise and makeshift Tokyo and certainly scenes shot at the seaside resort of Enoshima in what looks like it might have been it's heyday. Most enjoyable and I must now go see whether young Hitomi Nozoe went on to have the sort of cinema career she seemed destined for after this stunning performance.
4 Reviews
100,000 yen worth
GyatsoLa15 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Its often said that teenagers were invented in the 1950's, in Japan as in everywhere else. There were 'shocking' youth movies in Japan before this one, but nothing of this quality. This was Yasuzo Masumura's first movie, but it moves with the style and precision of a very experienced film maker. It is often described as a precursor of the 'New Wave' of cinema in the 1960's. I've no idea if it was seen by the likes of Godard, etc., but it has lots of the freshness and vitality of those movies. It still stands up as vibrant and entertaining film making.
There is very little to the plot really, its just two young people, barely out of the teens, both desperately seeking 100,000 yen to release their fathers from prison. The boy Kinichi (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) is kind but seems to have the attention span of a gnat, while the girl Akiko (Hitomi Nozoe) is outwardly bold and confident, but is really desperately lonely. They meet for an evening, then spend the rest of the next day trying to get together again.
This is one of those movies which flows so naturally you don't immediately see just how skillful the film maker is. The first half is simply the two future lovers enjoying each others company - this should be boring and annoying, but its not. It helps that Nozoe is compelling and lovely - Kawaguchi is a little less impressive, its hard to see sometimes what is driving his character. The whole story follows a satisfying arc, with an unusually good ending. It is vastly superior to the majority of the 'youth' movies of America or Britain of that period, much more human and without the commercial cynicism or patronizing morality of the most of the western counterparts. What i particularly like about the story is that while both are trying to 'save' their parents, there is no sentimentality or false morality in the portrayal of the lovers. They are simply lost kids, trying to do the best that they can for their wayward parents. In this sense, it can be seen as a very modern, very adult movie.
This may have been overtaken in style by the classic movies of the New Wave, but this is still a fascinating slice of life from the period. I was very surprised when i watched it to see that it really hasn't dated (unlike so many of this type of movie), its well worth the time for anyone interested in Japanese movies of the period - although its also perhaps the least 'japanese' movie of the period I've seen, it could easily have been transposed to a French or American background with almost no change in the story. For those interested in Masumuru, it also shows that his template of making interesting, intelligent movies out of superficially commercial or potentially exploitative material started at the very beginning of his career.
As a minor point, it also has a great early sequence set in a Keirin stadium - for cycle sports fans this must rank as one of the earliest portrayal on screen of this sport.
There is very little to the plot really, its just two young people, barely out of the teens, both desperately seeking 100,000 yen to release their fathers from prison. The boy Kinichi (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) is kind but seems to have the attention span of a gnat, while the girl Akiko (Hitomi Nozoe) is outwardly bold and confident, but is really desperately lonely. They meet for an evening, then spend the rest of the next day trying to get together again.
This is one of those movies which flows so naturally you don't immediately see just how skillful the film maker is. The first half is simply the two future lovers enjoying each others company - this should be boring and annoying, but its not. It helps that Nozoe is compelling and lovely - Kawaguchi is a little less impressive, its hard to see sometimes what is driving his character. The whole story follows a satisfying arc, with an unusually good ending. It is vastly superior to the majority of the 'youth' movies of America or Britain of that period, much more human and without the commercial cynicism or patronizing morality of the most of the western counterparts. What i particularly like about the story is that while both are trying to 'save' their parents, there is no sentimentality or false morality in the portrayal of the lovers. They are simply lost kids, trying to do the best that they can for their wayward parents. In this sense, it can be seen as a very modern, very adult movie.
This may have been overtaken in style by the classic movies of the New Wave, but this is still a fascinating slice of life from the period. I was very surprised when i watched it to see that it really hasn't dated (unlike so many of this type of movie), its well worth the time for anyone interested in Japanese movies of the period - although its also perhaps the least 'japanese' movie of the period I've seen, it could easily have been transposed to a French or American background with almost no change in the story. For those interested in Masumuru, it also shows that his template of making interesting, intelligent movies out of superficially commercial or potentially exploitative material started at the very beginning of his career.
As a minor point, it also has a great early sequence set in a Keirin stadium - for cycle sports fans this must rank as one of the earliest portrayal on screen of this sport.
The new impulse
chaos-rampant11 May 2014
This is somewhat obscurely the first of its type in Japan, New Wave. This is less because of bold innovation on the part of the maker and more an inevitable consequence; the times were pulling in that direction, someone was bound to do it. It happened to be Masumura, fresh from an Italian film school.
Someone was bound to. Their generation would be fretting against the same limits at the same time; the old values had ruined the country, the films were boring, not in their image.
So it's revealing to see this in the context of what no longer lets the soul breathe. The film is about youths falling in love. There is no meddling from their parents, they are left alone in the world to figure it out. They meet in prison - unlike Ozu's kindly fathers, their fathers are doing time, one for embezzling, the other election fraud, pointing to the larger failure. One of them we see, a blowhard and fool.
Here's the same failure in a more intimate light. A lot of the film is devoted to the two youths running around trying to scrounge up money to bail their fathers out, filial piety says that must be their priority. But see how tiresome the film becomes when it's about finding money, as stifling for us as for the two lovers.
This in the Italian vein that probably still had major traction in Europe by that time, the wandering among tedious life as if to find an exit somewhere. Probably if you asked him at the time, remember still '57 so before the French, he'd say he was making a realist film.
No what's powerful here for me is the early segment of their falling in love by the beach that smells of summer. I saw this with a Hollywood melodrama of a year prior, the soulmate type of love was merely produced from air. How fresh here by contrast, how evocative.
This is because it springs from touch and shared presence. Their bike ride together through open air, holding tight on him through tunnels and onto a beach resort. Their playing around in waves, new for the time. Her falling down in the skating rink and being picked up again. Their dancing together in a crowded floor by nightfall, the day still not over, long enough for them and others like them to not have to worry about more than just now.
Each visual beat will stay with me more than several, more accomplished Wave films to follow. There's freedom here, openness that still charms. They're impulsive and goofy, not yet having to fret (like their French counterparts) about image and their place in their world and still have to be mature enough to worry about the mundane stuff.
Somewhat obscure then but important in its own right. Not for any radical light in which to see and contemplate self; for Godard this would be as a bunch of notations around image; Resnais would dive deeper in marvelous Hiroshima. No the importance is that it adroitly reverses Ozu and in the same beat crystallizes the new impulse for connection.
Someone was bound to. Their generation would be fretting against the same limits at the same time; the old values had ruined the country, the films were boring, not in their image.
So it's revealing to see this in the context of what no longer lets the soul breathe. The film is about youths falling in love. There is no meddling from their parents, they are left alone in the world to figure it out. They meet in prison - unlike Ozu's kindly fathers, their fathers are doing time, one for embezzling, the other election fraud, pointing to the larger failure. One of them we see, a blowhard and fool.
Here's the same failure in a more intimate light. A lot of the film is devoted to the two youths running around trying to scrounge up money to bail their fathers out, filial piety says that must be their priority. But see how tiresome the film becomes when it's about finding money, as stifling for us as for the two lovers.
This in the Italian vein that probably still had major traction in Europe by that time, the wandering among tedious life as if to find an exit somewhere. Probably if you asked him at the time, remember still '57 so before the French, he'd say he was making a realist film.
No what's powerful here for me is the early segment of their falling in love by the beach that smells of summer. I saw this with a Hollywood melodrama of a year prior, the soulmate type of love was merely produced from air. How fresh here by contrast, how evocative.
This is because it springs from touch and shared presence. Their bike ride together through open air, holding tight on him through tunnels and onto a beach resort. Their playing around in waves, new for the time. Her falling down in the skating rink and being picked up again. Their dancing together in a crowded floor by nightfall, the day still not over, long enough for them and others like them to not have to worry about more than just now.
Each visual beat will stay with me more than several, more accomplished Wave films to follow. There's freedom here, openness that still charms. They're impulsive and goofy, not yet having to fret (like their French counterparts) about image and their place in their world and still have to be mature enough to worry about the mundane stuff.
Somewhat obscure then but important in its own right. Not for any radical light in which to see and contemplate self; for Godard this would be as a bunch of notations around image; Resnais would dive deeper in marvelous Hiroshima. No the importance is that it adroitly reverses Ozu and in the same beat crystallizes the new impulse for connection.
Dull
sharptongue2 January 2003
Not much to say about this unexceptional film. It may have been somewhat sensational when released in late 50's Japan, but looks all very innocent today. The lead actress is pleasant to look at but her performance, like the rest of the actors, is unremarkable.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
