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Sing a Song of Sex

Original title: Nihon shunka-kô
  • 19671967
  • 1h 43m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
761
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • IMDbPro
Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
  • Drama
Four high school students preparing for their university entrance exam fantasize about a classmate, and meet up with their inebriated teacher, while singing bawdy drinking songs.Four high school students preparing for their university entrance exam fantasize about a classmate, and meet up with their inebriated teacher, while singing bawdy drinking songs.Four high school students preparing for their university entrance exam fantasize about a classmate, and meet up with their inebriated teacher, while singing bawdy drinking songs.
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
761
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Nagisa Ôshima
  • Writers
    • Tomomichi Soeda(essay)
    • Tsutomu Tamura(screenplay)
    • Mamoru Sasaki(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Ichirô Araki
    • Kazuko Tajima
    • Jûzô Itami
Top credits
  • Director
    • Nagisa Ôshima
  • Writers
    • Tomomichi Soeda(essay)
    • Tsutomu Tamura(screenplay)
    • Mamoru Sasaki(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Ichirô Araki
    • Kazuko Tajima
    • Jûzô Itami
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 8User reviews
    • 16Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination

    Photos13

    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)
    Nihon shunka-kô (1967)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ichirô Araki
    • Toyoaki Nakamuraas Toyoaki Nakamura
    Kazuko Tajima
    • Mayuko Fujiwaraas Mayuko Fujiwara
    Jûzô Itami
    Jûzô Itami
    • Ôtakeas Ôtake
    Akiko Koyama
    Akiko Koyama
    • Takako Tanigawaas Takako Tanigawa
    Koji Iwabuchi
    • Hideo Uedeas Hideo Uede
    • (as Kôji Iwabuchi)
    Kazuyoshi Kushida
    • Katsumi Hiroias Katsumi Hiroi
    • (as Kazumi Kushida)
    Hiroshi Satô
    • Kôji Maruyamaas Kôji Maruyama
    Nobuko Miyamoto
    Nobuko Miyamoto
    • Sanae Satomias Sanae Satomi
    Hiroko Masuda
    • Satoko Ikedaas Satoko Ikeda
    Hideko Yoshida
    • Sachiko Kanedaas Sachiko Kaneda
    • Director
      • Nagisa Ôshima
    • Writers
      • Tomomichi Soeda(essay)
      • Tsutomu Tamura(screenplay)
      • Mamoru Sasaki(screenplay)
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Connections
      References The Red and the Black (1954)

    User reviews8

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    Really strange and perverted movie, but I wouldn't expect much less from Nagisa Oshima
    Sing a Song of Sex, or 'A Treatise on Japanese Bawdy Songs' (frankly I can't really tell you which title is better) is done by a filmmaker who has a kind of poker face, and only reveals his hand just slightly half-way through, so that by the end you really feel the collective punch of his full show of cards. It's a story that has a melancholy air to it, but suffused with a captivating sense of irony and self-consciousness ultimately with itself. Its main characters really couldn't give a damn, except to get laid, and in a way it's like the twisted older cousin of an American Pie movie... only without the bawdy jokes and replaced with bawdy songs, I guess.

    This film takes a look at aimless youths finishing high school and getting ready for college who after the sudden death of a teacher wander about singing the same song of sex (going through ten scenarios through the song), and imagining raping a girl in a classroom. There is also a girlfriend of sorts (or two) who follow with their pack, and at one point they come across a group singing protest songs in English. But mostly not a whole lot "happens" except that Oshima gets precisely and dangerously into the minds of his politically conscious - or un-conscious- minds. What do these four boys think about? What's their plan or play? What about the one student who may or may not (or not likely) have been able to save the teacher's life? The style starts out very realistically, which opens it up for how bizarre it gets later on since nothing seems too self-conscious, but everything has on another air of fantasy to it. The last ten minutes gets especially brutal, though all with a slow and uncomfortably surreal boil (by uncomfortable I mean as a compliment). It's a mature, super-black comic work by a director who knows how to put the camera in positions that make his characters more than just figures in a frame but figures set against the backdrops they're in (snow, city buildings, bridges, crowds, the empty school room).
    helpful•6
    0
    • Quinoa1984
    • Nov 26, 2011

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 23, 1967 (Japan)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • A Treatise on Japanese Bawdy Songs
    • Production company
      • Sozosha
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 43 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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