Cruel Story of Youth (1960) Seishun zankoku monogatari (original title)

Director:

Nagisa Ôshima

Writer:

Nagisa Ôshima

Release Date:

July 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Kiyoshi is a brooding young man who treats women solely as objects. Makoto is a young woman who is just reaching her sexual awakening...

Plot Keywords:

Society | Young Lovers | Teenage Love | Abortion | Post War Japan

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Yûsuke Kawazu	...	Kiyoshi
Miyuki Kuwano	...	Makoto
Yoshiko Kuga	...	Yuki, Makoto's elder
Fumio Watanabe	...	Akimoto, the doctor
Shinji Tanaka	...	Yoshimi Ito, student
Yosuke Hayashi
Shinjiro Matsuzaki	...	Terada
Toshiko Kobayashi	...	Teruko
Jun Hamamura	...	Masahiro, Makoto's
Shinko Ujiie	...	Masae Sakaguchi
Aki Morishima	...	Yoko Ishikawa
Yuki Tominaga	...	Toshiko Nishioka
Kei Satô	...	Akira Matsuko
Asao Sano	...	Inspector
Hiroshi Nihon'yanagi	...	Keizo Horio

Directed by
Nagisa Ôshima

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Nagisa Ôshima

Produced by
Tomio Ikeda	....	producer

Original Music by
Riichiro Manabe

Cinematography by
Takashi Kawamata

Film Editing by
Keiichi Uraoka

Production Design by
Kôji Uno

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Toshirô Ishidô	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Shujuro Kurita	....	sound recording engineer

Production Companies

• Shochiku Ofuna

Distributors

• Prokino Filmverleih (1986) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Shochiku Films of America (1961) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Divisa Home Video (2011) (Spain) (DVD)
• New Yorker Films (1985) (USA) (subtitled)
• Raro Video (2005) (Italy) (DVD)
• Yume Pictures (2008) (UK) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Seishun zankoku monogatari" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Hong Kong:III | UK:15 (2008) | West Germany:18

Company:

Shochiku Ofuna

Trivia:

The adult subject matter was too much for the BBFC who rejected the film for a UK cinema certificate in 1960. It was finally passed uncut with a 15 certificate in 2008.

Movie Connections:

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

Best Movie You've Never Seen

See Cruel Story of Youth. It is an amazing film. Oshima Nagisa is probably best known for his avant garde work- films like "In the Realm of the Senses" and "Diary of a Shinjuku Thief"- but his earlier work is more compelling, if less sensational. This film tells the story of Makoto and Kiyoshi, two youths who suffer from the social malaise typical of their generation. They express their frustration in violent and poetic ways, which makes up the substance of the film's narrative. But putting all that aside, it's beautifully filmed and by it's end, completely heartwrenching. The color contrast is almost unprecedented- bright reds and blues set against pitch blacks. At times it has the sensibility of a yakuza film- violence abounds and Oshima makes use of sharp pans typical of that genre, giving it a very cool, retro feel. At it's core it's a love story, but of a sort that modern audiences will probably never see in a contemporary film. It shows love as the cruelest thing imaginable, making it difficult to watch at times, but in the end, impossible to forget.