Contos Cruéis da Juventude (1960)

A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitch-hiking to rob middle-class men.

Director:

Nagisa Ôshima

Writer:

Nagisa Ôshima (screenplay)

Stars:

Miyuki Kuwano, Yûsuke Kawazu, Yoshiko Kuga

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Miyuki Kuwano	...	Makoto
Yûsuke Kawazu	...	Kiyoshi
Yoshiko Kuga	...	Yuki, Makoto's elder
Fumio Watanabe	...	Akimoto, the doctor
Shinji Tanaka	...	Yoshimi Ito, student
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
Hiroshi Nihon'yanagi	...	Keizo Horio
Asao Sano	...	Inspector
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yôko Aoba

Storyline

Kiyoshi is a brooding young man who treats women solely as objects. Makoto is a young woman who is just reaching her sexual awakening. She and her friends accept car rides from middle aged men, although they state it is nothing more than fun with no intention of leading those men on. Kiyoshi and Makoto meet when he saves her from one of those middle aged men who tries to take advantage of her. Despite treating each other abusively, they start a relationship with each other which leads to what they call love, but feels more like an emotional dependence on each other to rebel against traditional society. Each with no money, they start to extort money from these middle aged men who she leads on. This act is only one demonstration of the only power they feel they have, namely sex, which they use against others as well as against each other in their doomed relationship.

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Plot Keywords:

yakuza | society | japanese new wave | japan | tokyo japan | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

M/14

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

3 June 1960 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Contos Cruéis da Juventude

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,496

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shochiku Ofuna

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Connections

Featured in Century of Cinema: Nihon eiga no hyaku nen (1995)

User Reviews

Two young delinquents start a relationship that will spell disaster for both of them.

This is an interesting story about how stupid and self-destructive people—young people in this case—can be. This movie was released in 1960, but look around and it's clear that the issues it brings up—although in a somewhat overly melodramatic way—continue to be relevant today, and probably always will be as long as human beings exist. The previous reviewer has the right to their negative opinion, but I think they missed the big picture, perhaps they are just too young to know any better.

Besides following a good storyline, it is also well-shot. The cinematography is crisp. And the overall nature of the photography gives the film a fantastic and hermetic quality. It's gritty, and obviously seeks to be realistic, but it has the feel of a fable or a morality tale.