Sing a Song of Sex (1967)

Four high school students preparing for their university entrance exam fantasize about a classmate, and meet up with thier inebriated teacher, while singing bawdy drinking songs.

Director:

Nagisa Ôshima

Writers:

Tomomichi Soeda (essay), Tsutomu Tamura (screenplay)

Stars:

Ichirô Araki, Kazuko Tajima, Jûzô Itami

Cast

Cast overview:
Ichirô Araki	...	Toyoaki Nakamura
Kazuko Tajima	...	Mayuko Fujiwara
Jûzô Itami	...	Ôtake (as Ichizô Itami)
Akiko Koyama	...	Takako Tanigawa
Koji Iwabuchi	...	Hideo Uede (as Kôji Iwabuchi)
Kazuyoshi Kushida	...	Katsumi Hiroi (as Kazumi Kushida)
Hiroshi Satô	...	Kôji Maruyama
Nobuko Miyamoto	...	Sanae Satomi
Hiroko Masuda	...	Satoko Ikeda
Hideko Yoshida	...	Sachiko Kaneda

Storyline

Four high school students preparing for their university entrance exam fantasize about a classmate, and meet up with thier inebriated teacher, while singing bawdy drinking songs.

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Plot Keywords:

beer | alcohol | drinking song | japanese girl | japanese schoolgirl | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

23 February 1967 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Sing a Song of Sex

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sozosha

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

User Reviews

Youth Is Wasted On The Young

This movie is about four male high school students who took their university entrance exams and are just hanging around mostly. They have a connection with their teacher Mr. Otake and they go out drinking with him and 3 female classmates. Mr. Otake starts singing a bawdy Japanese folk song, a song sung throughout the film by the male characters. One night after heavy drinking, Otake pays for the girls and guys to stay at an inn since the trains have stopped running. Otake puts on the gas stove, falls drunkenly asleep and accidentally kills himself by poisoning. The girls are inconsolable, the guys nonchalant. The guys become obsessed with a fellow classmate, mostly known by her seat number 469. The film goes from there, with meeting her, meeting Otake's mistress and singing the song. This take on disenfranchised youth in Tokyo is very effective. Director Oshima Nagisa is well known for pushing the envelope (he directed the notorious "In The Realm Of The Senses")and this character study is interesting, with good young actors in the pivotal roles. The movie title notwithstanding, this is not a pornographic film, it has very little nudity and very little violence. Its just a story of attitude, indifference and, if not fear, wariness of what lies ahead. I liked the pacing in this film and generally feel you'll like it if you like Japanese drama. Not perfect, but an interesting film from a maverick director who has no problem making you think.