No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) Waga seishun ni kuinashi (original title)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writer:

Eijirô Hisaita (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

6 June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The daughter of a politically disgraced university professor struggles to find a place for herself in love and life, in the uncertain world of Japan leading into WWII.

Plot Keywords:

Anti War

Cast

Setsuko Hara	...	Yukie Yagihara
Susumu Fujita	...	Ruykichi Noge
Denjirô Ôkôchi	...	Professor Yagihara
Haruko Sugimura	...	Madame Noge
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Madame Yagihara
Kokuten Kôdô	...	Mr. Noge
Akitake Kôno	...	Itokawa
Takashi Shimura	...	Police Commissioner 'Poison Strawberry' Dokuichigo
Taizô Fukami	...	Minister of Education
Masao Shimizu	...	Professor Hakozaki
Haruo Tanaka	...	Student
Kazu Hikari	...	Detective
Hisako Hara	...	Itokawa's Mother
Shin Takemura	...	Prosecutor
Tateo Kawasaki	...	Servant
Fusako Fujima	...	Old Woman
Sayuri Tanima	...	Lady
Itoko Kono	...	Lady
Chieko Nakakita	...	Lady
Ichirô Chiba	...	Student
Isamu Yonekura	...	Student
Noburo Takagi	...	Student
Hiroshi Sano	...	Student

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits
Eijirô Hisaita		(screenplay)
Akira Kurosawa		uncredited
Keiji Matsuzaki		uncredited

Produced by
Keiji Matsuzaki	....	producer

Original Music by
Tadashi Hattori

Cinematography by
Asakazu Nakai

Film Editing by
Akira Kurosawa

Production Design by
Keiji Kitagawa

Production Management
Ryô Takei	....	in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hiromichi Horikawa	....	chief assistant director
Ko Horiuchi	....	assistant director
Akitoshi Maeda	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Ichirô Minawa	....	sound effects editor
Isamu Suzuki	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Goichi Araki	....	still photographer
Chôshirô Ishii	....	lighting technician

Editorial Department
Toshio Gotô	....	negative cutter

Other crew
Yukie Kikuchi	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toei Company (1946) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Libra Films (1980) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD) (as Eclipse from the Criterion Collection)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Toho Video (2002) (Japan) (DVD)
• Toho Video (2010) (Japan) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Universe Laser & Video Co. Ltd. (2002) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• WoWow (2012) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• Toho Film Laboratory  film processing
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Waga seishun ni kuinashi" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Four days before the film was released, the workers at Toho went on strike, which lasted 51 days. Almost all of the studios most recognizable actors had walked, along with a few prominent directors, which opened up more opportunities for director Akira Kurosawa and unknown actor Toshirô Mifune.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Japanese Cinema (1995) (TV)

Japanese neorealism - the fight against fascism in Japan

I went to my local DVD rental store and found this early Kurosawa made just after the end of the World War 2. Curiously this film, "No regrets for my youth" was dubbed in Italian. This was kind of annoying as I like to see the films in their original language, but anyway as I've already seen so many films dubbed in English, why not Italian? Well, maybe it was the Italian dubbing, but I couldn't fail to see the similarity between "No regrets for my youth" and the neorealist films made in Italy just after the war. Coincidence? Anyway, Kurosawa was mainly influenced by the Soviet cinema.

"No regrets for my youth" tells the story of the fight of some students against the militarist regime in Japan and their different destinies throughout the years, but the film focuses mainly on Yukie, that we see in the beginning, just as a spoilt girl, flirting with revolutionary games. She's very sensitive and soon notices how alienated from reality she is. The military government is slowly tightening its iron grip and silencing the opposition. Idealism has become dangerous in Japan.

Yukie now sees what's happening. She's very passionate in whatever she does. Yukie makes no compromises, but she's no fool either. The film will describe her journey - first, the fires of adolescence when the world seems to be out there just to fulfill her wishes, then self-awareness, fight, disillusion, suffering.... She and her friends will arrive to different conclusions and tread different roads.

In a way, "No regrets for my youth" is a coming of age film, in which politics, emotion and sex play an important role. Yukie wants to find her place in the world. She's not satisfied with her life and she's not satisfied with the world in which she's living. She wants to change them. "No regrets for my youth" shows how she tries to live up to her ideals.

In "No regrets for my youth" (as I said before) we feel the influence the Soviet (and Italian) masters had on Kurosawa. We see here a young Kurosawa - more spontaneous and enthusiastic (another Kurosawa film, more or less, along the same line is "Stray Dog" that takes place in post-war Japan). The camera is used effectively to show the landscape and people. The acting is more natural. We are spared the exaggerated gestures and movements that are seen in some of his later films. Setsuko Hara who plays Yukie is an extraordinary actress. She helps the film to achieve a truly great emotional depth. Highly recommended!