Cruel Story of Youth
Cruel Story of Youth
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1h 37m
Directed by Nagisa Oshima • 1960 • Japan
Starring Miyuki Kuwano, Yusuke Kawazu, Yoshiko Kuga
A scorching tale of toxic love in a toxic world, Nagisa Oshima’s second feature film marked the artistic breakthrough of one of the most radical voices in the history of Japanese cinema. Caught in the dog-eat-dog crucible of postwar Tokyo, teenage lovers Makoto (Miyuki Kuwano) and Kiyoshi (Yusuke Kawazu) turn to a life of crime, entrapping lecherous middle-aged men in order to extort their money. But how long can the wayward youths outrun their fate? Bursting with vivid color, this visually scintillating, furiously nihilistic film howls with rage at a society in which everything—love, sex, and youthful idealism—has been corrupted.
Up Next in Cruel Story of Youth
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A Town of Love and Hope
Directed by Nagisa Oshima • 1959 • Japan
Nagisa Oshima's first feature film, A TOWN OF LOVE AND HOPE paints a biting portrait of poverty and class difference through the life of a young boy who sells pigeons on the street. The radical and unflinching politics that would become Oshima's hallmark ...
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Tony Rayns on CRUEL STORY OF YOUTH
Conducted in 2005 by the Criterion Collection, this interview with film scholar Tony Rayns focuses on Nagisa Oshima’s beginnings, especially the emergence of his directorial style with CRUEL STORY OF YOUTH.
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Tomorrow's Sun
This 1959 short shows director Nagisa Oshima’s capacity for surrealism and humor and features Shochiku’s stock of young stars, including Miyuki Kuwano and Yusuke Kawazu, the lead actors in CRUEL STORY OF YOUTH.
