This film like Night and Fog in Japan by Nagisa Oshima shows a progression away from the stale narratives and uninspired techniques of the Japanese Golden Age. By the early sixties Ozu and Kurosawa had become old hat. New voices like Nagisa Oshima and Koreyoshi Kurahara made film inventive and edgy again.
This film uses fast shooting on cars especially to show the fast pace of modern life in Tokyo. The story centers around Akira a small time hood who is a pickpocket, car thief, and rapist. He trolls around Tokyo with his friend and girlfriend who is also a prostitute. They get into trouble at every turn. Most telling is a car ride at the beginning of the film where they drive really fast and out of control making cat calls to pedestrians on the sidewalks of Tokyo. The characters present a contrast between the typical Tokyo resident of the 60's with the burgeoning youth movement which would flower in the later years. I was particularly amused by a scene where the young prostitute and her boyfriend walk against a current of Japanese salarymen.
I was also taken aback by the frank discussion of abortion. A topic that was controversial then and is still a hot button issue in some places. The narrative of the film is disjointed. It doesn't follow a very linear progression. The location changes and there are a number of edits that make the film disjointed. The end is anti-climatic. The two hoods and the prostitute end up in a run down place near the train. One of the hoods dies and the film ends. No big ending. No definitive resolution. Totally unlike the Golden Age. Very new wave.
I thought this film's use of music and visuals along with quick, slang filled dialogue made the film distinct and thoroughly enjoyable.
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