Kishiwada shônen gurentai: Chikemuri junjô-hen

In the last 3 months I have bought and watched 21 Miike films. I am a FAN!! I just watched this one tonight, and so far it, and FULL METAL YAKUZA are my least favorites. In general I am not a fan of movies about the trials and tribulations of 18/19 year olds, and to my mind the ones in this film were more boring than most. Only a couple of them (2 of the guys) had any real 'character' to speak of. While the girls were, for the most part, all hair and blank stares. Their lives started out 'no where' and ended 'no where' with very little in between. For a Miike film, even the cinematography was rather boring. On the other and the use of 'Western' music to try and give some 'life' to all the non-action was very well done. (Miike uses Western music to great effect in many of his films.) Which brings me to the one scene that totally transcended the rest of the film and made watching the whole thing worth the time spent. Having broken up with the least interesting of the 3 young men, one of the girls is forlornly riding a street car to the sound of flamenco guitar. The scene cuts to the bar/café where one of the other young men works as a cook. An older woman we had seen incidentally early in the film comes out from behind a curtain dressed in black sequins and rhinestones and starts to dance to the guitar music (which has continued to play), much to the amazement of the others in the bar. Her moves are OK but not great. The scene continues to cut back and froth from the girl on the street car becoming more and more despondent, to the woman dancing. Each time it cuts to the dancer her costume has become more and more authentic as does her dancing. Finally she has become totally transformed into an astonishing dancer of great power, while the young girl has become totally lost. The finale of this sequence is classic Miike!!! The whole thing was mesmerizing! But then we are dropped right back into the land of the boring. For another 30 or 40 minutes. Towards the end, Miike does throw in a moment of great fun, a kind of gloss on the American wild boys in a car theme. But that then trails off into the sappiest ending one could possibly imagine. If you want to see Miike do 'young people' and do it brilliantly then watch LEY LINES, CITY OF LOST SOULS, and BLUES HARP. These are some of his best films. Only if you are a die-hard Miike fanatic should you bother with this one.

Young Thugs: Innocent Blood is too disjointed to really be enjoyed as anything great, but Takashi Miike's film - the first of a two parter (the other being a prequel) - has enough moments to get by.

It's really a lot of parts more than the whole as far as the entertainment ratio goes, but I'll remember some of those parts well, like a frustrated beaten young man punching his hand on a steel bar out of romantic frustration, or a woman yelling about wanting to just cry while totally drunk, or a man having fun with his friend as he removes part of a tattoo.

I just wish there was more of a thru line with the characters and its a case where some of its episodic-ness isn't to its benefit. And the ending is just flipping crazy, going from action, suspense, comedy and then bizarre tragedy. I shouldn't like it and the humor is sophomoric, but it is maybe the most Miike-esque part of all. plus dramatically it's always well directed, confidence of someone not a director of only a few films as he was up till this point

Three teenagers in Osaka, two boys and a girl, attempt to deal with life after recently finishing high school. They deal with break-ups, new love, beatings, happy times and sad in a more personal tale than Takashi Miike is usually known for. Esentually a slice-of-life coming of age movie with little Miike touches so you can tell it's one of his films. "Young Thugs: Innocent Blood" seems to get a bit of a short shift among certain Miike connoisseurs, but it's a pretty good film in it's own right.

My Grade: B-

DVD Extras: Takashi Miike interview; Osaka's History and culture; Bio/Filmographies; and original Trailer

Despite the title and the mean-looking cover art, Young Thugs: Innocent Blood is one of Miike's gentlest and sweetest films. That's not to say that it is entirely free of nastiness. The protagonists spend a lot of their free time getting into violent brawls. But the story is one of friendship and romance. The film follows four friends, three guys and a girl, as they exit high school. As time goes on, and as new romantic relationships arise, the friends grow apart. It's kind of like Take Care of My Cat, except for every once in a while someone gets beaten with an aluminum baseball bat. It's actually quite touching, and frequently very funny. The climactic event in the film is extremely goofy in a way that only Miike could accomplish – it's not quite on the level as the end of Dead or Alive 1, but it's something you're guaranteed not to see outside of this man's filmography.

Having seen over 20 Miike films, I expected "Kishiwada shonen gurentai: Chikemuri junjo-hen" (or, as the American release is called, "Young Thugs: Innocent Blood") to be a good movie, but I didn't expect it to be this great! From beginning to end this film kept me involved, laughing at the many hilarious scenes and empathizing at the many dramatic scenes. Unlike many Miike films, this movie carries with it a sense of innocence. Sure, it has some outrageous violence, but it is all in fun, like kids playing. There is no nudity or sexual misconduct (i.e. "Visitor Q" or "Ichi the Killer"), just a pure heartfelt story of young adults growing up (or refusing to grow up). Now that this movie is easily available (thanks to the great folks at ArtsMagicDVD), I would have expected more votes and reviews on here by now. I definitely recommend this film for Miike fans and haters alike. Just a great movie all around.