Kyônetsu no kisetsu

This film should be well-known, but isn't. It is in many ways the typical sixties Japanese pop-film, combining the best of nouvelle vague (hand held camera, cool-jazz score, moody, young characters) and the Japanese exploitation cinema (lots of violence, sex and rape). It is unknown, probably because of it's raw content. The main line - girl falls in love with the small time criminal who raped her - isn't to the taste of the western public, but is actually handled in a subtle matter. I've seen this one on Something weird video.

Loved the new wave 'Sun Tribe' filmmaking, loved the jazz soundtrack, hated the main character. That's probably the point, but this film takes the 'wild youth' genre to such an extreme that it was unpleasant to watch. You've got a guy who commits assault, grand theft, and rape, a guy who laughs in people's faces, acts like a complete bore and eats like a pig, and yet, the film often puts him in the positive light of the cool rebel listening to hip American jazz. It never rounds the corner to do anything else in its 76 minute run time, and the plot line with the couple he torments is silly. It's a shame because the film has such energy in the way Kurahara directed it.

A movie that's certainly confronting by the standards of the early 1960s (some scenes are still uncomfortable to watch), I can safely say that the Ones were indeed Warped. It follows a young juvenile offender who's released from custody and sets about wreaking havoc, seemingly motivated by equal parts revenge and boredom.

It's only about 75 minutes long, so it does more or less get away with just being a premise, and not feeling too dependent on plot until the final act, when things naturally get a bit more dramatic. Much of the film rushes by with a maniacal energy, and viewers aren't spared a great deal when it comes to seeing what the main character and two of his equally warped friends get up to. It's one of many crime/dramas from Japan in the early 1960s that touch upon rebellion and a disaffected population of youths, and I think it explores all that stuff well.

Its brevity and aggressive directness make it hard to elaborate much further than that. I was alarmed in what I think were the right ways, and though it wasn't enjoyable, it was engaging. It's well-made for its time, and the visuals are nice and stylish. It definitely fits in with that new wave sort of feel, be it Japanese new wave or new wave in general (I can't be bothered to look up dates or specifics at this point... it's late, I'm tired, and I'm going to feel warped tomorrow if I don't rest soon).

The social situation in Rebel Without a Cause looks pretty healthy in comparison to Akira's life in this film. Make no mistake, the director probably didn't want you to find this guy empathetic or romantic regardless of his ingenuity, optimism, or opinions on abstract expressionism. He isn't so much a character with an arc as a force of nature motivating others, a plot device.

Oddly enough, The Warped Ones is really a conservative film even if it doesn't realize it, warning of the breakdown of the family unit, the failure of the reform system, the rise of gang violence, and the perils of Western culture eroding traditional Japanese values. Everyone and everything that comes into contact with the sneering, jazz-deranged lunatic tainted or perverted. Akira merely the flea carrying the plague virus. Gotta give the film credit for not copping out at the end.

Japanese films in the 50s and 60s were just great. This is one of the best.