Live stream preview

Watch this video and more on The Criterion Channel

Watch this video and more on The Criterion Channel

Start your free trial

Already subscribed? Sign in

Noir

Youth of the Beast

1h 31m

Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1963 • Japan
Starring Joe Shishido, Misako Watanabe, Tamio Kawaji

When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo’s underworld explodes with violence. YOUTH OF THE BEAST (YAJU NO SEISHUN) was a breakthrough for director Seijun Suzuki, introducing the flamboyant colors, hallucinatory images, and striking compositions that would become his trademark. The Criterion Collection proudly presents the film that revitalized the yakuza genre and helped define the inimitable style of a legendary cinematic renegade.

Up Next in Noir

  • Odd Man Out
    1:56:16
    Odd Man Out

    Odd Man Out

    Directed by Carol Reed • 1947 • United Kingdom
    Starring James Mason, Kathleen Ryan, Robert Newton

    Taking place largely over the course of one tense night, Carol Reed’s psychological noir, set in an unnamed Belfast, stars James Mason as a revolutionary ex-con leading a robbery that goes horribly ...

  • Coup de torchon
    2:09:20
    Coup de torchon

    Coup de torchon

    Directed by Bertrand Tavernier • 1981 • France
    Starring Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre Marielle

    An inspired rendering of Jim Thompson’s pulp novel POP. 1280, Bertrand Tavernier’s COUP DE TORCHON deftly transplants the story of an inept police chief turned heartless killer and his...

  • Take Aim at the Police Van
    1:19:04
    Take Aim at the Police Van

    Take Aim at the Police Van

    Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1960 • Japan

    At the beginning of Seijun Suzuki's taut and twisty whodunit, a prison truck is attacked and a convict inside murdered. The penitentiary guard on duty, Daijiro (Michitaro Mizushima), is accused of negligence and suspended, only to take it upon himself to ...

×