La Jeunesse de la bête

Joji 'Jo' Mizuno is a tough guy who walks into the lives of two rival crime gangs, playing each against the other for his own financial benefit, both are eager to have him working for them, but both will ultimately regret their decision, when his real motives are revealed. A fascinating crime story based on the novel by Haruhiko Oyabu, that pulls you in instantly, a story that reveals itself only little by little. Suzuki's film is also a pleasure to the eye, the glorious use of colours gives the film a vibrancy that when combined with the demented jazzy score, gives the film an overall pop art feel. The characters are all cool as hell and immaculately well dressed, the Tokyo street scenes are a pleasure to see in full colour, certainly the best use of urban Tokyo I've seen since House of Bamboo. Overall this is a thoroughly entertaining crime flick with pulp overtones, it may not be strong on violence but its certainly not to be missed.

"Yaju no Seishun" ("Youth of the Beast") is, without doubt, one of the greatest Japanese films of the 1960's. It is also, arguably, the best film from the amazing director, Suzuki Seijun. This was Suzuki-sensei's "breakthrough" film; in as much as it was the first film where he truly let his flamboyant, dizzying, artistic sense come forward. Full of intense, innovative, eye-popping visuals, the film never loses its solid narrative flow; thanks, in part, to a great script based on the novel by Hard-Boiled master, Oyabu Haruhiko. What more could one ask for? A great story, brilliant direction, and outstanding performances (especially by Shishido Jo). This is a superior example of the Japanese thriller--and, for that matter, crime cinema of the 1960's in general!

One of Suzuki's best films. The scenes behind the one-way glass in the nightclub make for some brilliant camera angles. Joe Shishido turns in another fine performance as a brutish thug with a secret agenda. If you are a fan of 60's era violent gangster type cinema don't pass this up!

Wonderful Blu-ray print of a fabulous turning point film for Seijun Suzuki. Gone suddenly is his slavish adherence to the studio's ritualistic and formulaic demands and here are the lovely colourful street scenes and crazy kaleidoscopic interiors. There are, of course, yakuza and the small matter of fingers going missing but from the start this has something of the humour and duplicity of Yojimbo and Jo Shishido is slipping effortlessly into the role he would make icon a few years later in Branded to Kill. There is no ponderous exposition here as we slip from scene to scene with European style wipes and fades and even semi jump cuts. The simplistic plot is a little hard to follow at times, not because it is complicated but that the tale is being told at such a pace and with such hypnotic visuals we are constantly distracted. Wonderful.

Undercover cop plays two gangs against each other. What it lacks in originality it makes up for in style and brutality with even a nice twist at the end. Very well done B movie.