Contes cruels de la jeunesse

This is a curious film, definitely of its time, but not from France. The two lovers Kyoschi and Makoto have a devil may care attitude about things. At times, you want to shake the female lead (Makoto) and tell her to be more responsible. Kyoschi is sometimes just this side of brutal to her, both physically and psychologically. The film reminds me a bit of "Rebel Without A Cause" and even "Breathless", which is more than likely intentional. For a Japanese film, it is fairly gritty. My only complaint is that most of the characters besides the two star crossed/unfortunately matched lovers are underwritten. I wonder if anyone thought at that time to show this film to youths in Japan, to let them know that falling in love is not always the true path to happiness. An interesting, fully watchable film.

Oshima's film about adolescents in Tokyo was made in 1960 and is extraordinarly prescient: the picture he portrays of teenagers is far in advance of Swinging London and the Summer of Love in San Francisco. His teenage protagonists not only have sex together, but are involved in a sex-crime scam where the girl acts as a decoy for middle aged men to be blackmailed for trying to solicit her sexual services. The treatment of adolescent sexuality is far ahead of its time:Oshima gives us an accurate picture of teenage sexual activity that was unthinkable at the time. Brilliantly shot in cinemascope and exquisitely lit, the film is visually arresting. The sequence where the male lead eats an apple over his sleeping girlfriend's sleeping body is one of many highlights. A little known masterpiece by one of the masters of twentieth century Japanese cinema.

Kiyoshi is a student with a completely immoral attitude towards women (and other things too). His young lover Makoto seeks adventure with him. Unlike her younger sister, a former left winger she doesn't bother about changing the society but she just wants fun, but the completely egotist attitude of her lover brings about ruin for both.

the beginning of the film which is ingenious and visually very inspiring is followed by a rather mediocre middle part, where their method of gaining money by luring middle aged men into a trap is described excessively. Nevertheless you don't get to know if the first scene of the film is already a part of that profession or a mere accident.

But now watch the film for yourself.

"Cruel story of youth" seems to me a hard movie to give any judgment about. Trying to watch at the events of the drama from the point of view of the time (historically), I see not more than a Japanese version of "lost generation" drama. The ideals of parents passed away in the recent war, the new aims were not created – is it not a universal generation crises of searching your own way in life? While watching the movie, I asked myself if it is necessary to search for any hidden message of the director… if there is one…

The characters and events are described in a very direct, comparable to the animation speed and simplicity way (that was one of the points which I could dare to compare with the "trash-movie" stylistic). There is a lot of "beating directly into the face" full of disguise scenes (for the year 1960 the movie is full of violence and sex – what I guess was pretty "fresh" and not known at that time). The message of the director was delivered in the right way, no doubt that the movie drew public attention – that is the other point which I appreciate in director's work.

Now to the heroes (or anti-heroes, as I think a lot of people would tell): the main heroes of the drama present the whole collection of sins and all kinds of misbehavior. The antipathy to them is growing with every their word and step. The two try to fight the way through to the future and… fail. There is no one around (false existence or practical non-existence of a good example neither in society nor in their own family) to give them the right answer on: what to do to be happy? As Kiyoshi says: "We only sell ourselves in order to go on living. No matter how I fight it, that's what the world is like." Isn't life disappointing?

Love and death are linked in quite an extravagant way in this movie, resulting in a kind of "romantic antiromantic". What is left at the end? A symptom of a lost generation's aimlessness and moral bankruptcy (and lost innocence)… No doubt, "Cruel story of youth" is a very expressive movie the main topic of which could get up-to-date anytime (as it is well known that times pass – men and problem stay the same).

This is an interesting story about how stupid and self-destructive people—young people in this case—can be. This movie was released in 1960, but look around and it's clear that the issues it brings up—although in a somewhat overly melodramatic way—continue to be relevant today, and probably always will be as long as human beings exist. The previous reviewer has the right to their negative opinion, but I think they missed the big picture, perhaps they are just too young to know any better.

Besides following a good storyline, it is also well-shot. The cinematography is crisp. And the overall nature of the photography gives the film a fantastic and hermetic quality. It's gritty, and obviously seeks to be realistic, but it has the feel of a fable or a morality tale.