Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (1967)
"Muri shinjû: Nihon no natsu" (original title)

Director:

Nagisa Ôshima

Writers:

Mamoru Sasaki, Tsutomu Tamura,

Stars:

Keiko Sakurai, Kei Satô, Tetsuo Ashida

Cast

Credited cast:
Keiko Sakurai	...	Nejiko
Kei Satô	...	Otoko
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tetsuo Ashida	...	Himeji
Yoshiyuki Fukuda
Hideo Kanze
Hôsei Komatsu
Shunsuke Mizoguchi	...	Tsukibito
Bunya Ozawa	...	Matsuyama
Masakazu Tamura
Taiji Tonoyama
Rokko Toura	...	Television

Storyline

---

Plot Keywords:

suicide | japan | allegorical | killing spree | surrealism

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama

---

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

2 September 1967 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Japanese Summer: Double Suicide

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sozosha

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

When a sociopathic, loner American sniper attacks a Japanese city, the local gangs can't decide whether to react to him as a life-style savior or an imperialist invader.

Combines the political commitment and narrative experimentalism of Godard with the lush, deep-focus aesthetic of Ford and Kurosawa.

I wouldn't know what to think of the film if I hadn't recently researched the U.S. occupation of Japan. Oshima presents Japanese youth as obsessed with matching the brutality and aimlessness of their American counter-parts.

When a sociopathic, loner American sniper attacks a Japanese city, the local gangs can't decide whether to react to him as a life-style savior or an imperialist invader.

Magnificently formal shot compositions that almost bring to mind the "Metaphyisical style" of de Cherico's paintings.

As is characteristic of Oshima, the only redemption is through sex.