Dir. Ôshima Nagasi, Japanese, 1960
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Thu 25 March 2010 // 19:00
/ Cinema
"A sexual relationship with another brings about a connection with all humanity: by embracing one person, you are able to embrace all humanity.
- Nagisa Oshima
Double Bill from an acclaimed Japanese matser: both films on 35mm - a rare treat
Cast: Yûsuke Kawazu; Miyuki Kuwano; Yoshiko Kuga - 96 min
Made by a 28 year old Ôshima, Naked Youth is a staggering portrayal of doomed teenage love which drew comparisons to the French New Wave on its release.
The film is a requiem of disillusionment where youth is a dead-end: materially, socially and spiritually.
Cast: Eiko Matsuda, Tatsuya Fuji, Aoi Nakajima, Taiji Tonoyama | Japan-France - 102min | Cert: 18
Here is what the British Film Institute say about it:
"Probably the most famous erotic film ever made, Oshima's masterpiece yields a fascinating conundrum: it's sexually explicit, but is finally more about the mind than the body.
Oshima rose to the challenge of creating a genuinely grown-up 'adult movie' by reinterpreting Japan's most famous sex-crime. In 1936, Kichizo, an innkeeper in the Tokyo suburbs, left his wife and began a torrid affair with one of his employees, a young woman named Sada. When Kichizo died in an erotic climax and Sada was put on trial for his murder, the 'crime' gripped the entire nation. Sensuously scored and designed, Oshima's film stays close to the facts but exalts the power of the imagination. He shows the lovers retreating from the world into their own sexual fantasies - and finds everything from childish play and Oedipal passions to a secret death-wish at the heart of those fantasies. Desire has never seemed more dangerous.
- Tony Rayns"
If you want to read more, there is a great article about Nagisa Oshima on the website of Sight and Sound, here:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49564
£6/£5 for both films