Youth of the Beast
Youth of the Beast | |
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Directed by | Seijun Suzuki |
Produced by | Keinosuke Kubo[1] |
Screenplay by |
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Based on |
A novel by Haruhiko Oyabu |
Starring |
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Music by | Hajime Okumura[1] |
Cinematography | Kazue Nagatsuka[1] |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes[3] |
Country | Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Youth of the Beast (野獣の青春 Yajū no seishun) is a 1963 Japanese yakuza film directed by Seijun Suzuki. Much of the film is set in Tokyo.
Synopsis
To infiltrate a criminal organization responsible for the death of one of his colleagues, the Detective Tajima adopts the behavior of a brutal thug and plays opposing yakuza bosses against each other.
Cast
- Joe Shishido - Joji 'Jo' Mizuno
- Misako Watanabe - Kumiko Takeshita
- Tamio Kawaji - Hideo Nomoto
- Eiji Gō - Takechi
- Akiji Kobayashi - Nomoto Tatsuo
- Yuzo Kiura - Minegishi Takeo
- Hiroshi Kono - Honma
- Eimei Esumi - Goro Minami
- Seijun Suzuki - Detective Hirokawa
Release
Youth of the Beast was released in Japan in April 21, 1963.[4][2][3] It received an American release in the United States by Nikkatsu in 1993.[2]
Youth of the Beast was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection on January 11, 2005.[5] Eureka Entertainment released the film in on both Blu-ray and DVD release in 2014 as part of the Masters of Cinema range.[6]
Reception
In contemporary reviews in Japan, the film was generally ignored.[4] The film was not placed in the years top 40 films by Kinema Junpo and managed to place at 21st place in Eiga Hyron's through a single ballot vote.[4]
From retrospective reviews, Michael Brooke of Sight & Sound described the film as the first of Suzuki's Nikkatsu films to feature "what became recognised (albeit farm from immediately) as his characteristic approach", which Brooke described as "wildly over-composed and colour-coordinated (even the smoke billowing out of a wrecked car is a fetching reddish-brown)" stating that its "style and substance virtually indivisible and equally exhilarating."[7] Brooke found that "Suzuki doesn't so much undermine conventional gangster flick cliches as turn them up to 11, creating a powerfully satiric effects in the process"[7]
Remake
John Woo announced in 2012 that he would direct a remake of Youth of the Beast titled Day of the Beast.[8] The film is set to be produced by Woo and Terence Chang's Lion Rock Productions along with Nikkatsu.[8] The film is set in Tokyo where a Westerner becomes entered into a gang war between the Yakuza and Cold War Russian mafia.[8] The film will be written by Rob Frisbee.[8] Following the box-office disappointment of The Crossing, Woo and producer Terence Chang disbanded Lion Rock Productions.[9]
See also
Footnotes
- 1 2 3 4 Galbraith IV 1996, p. 451.
- 1 2 3 Galbraith IV 1996, p. 452.
- 1 2 "野獣の青春" (in Japanese). Nikkatsu. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
- 1 2 3 Veith, Frederick; Kaffen, Phil (2014). Seijun and the System (booklet). Masters of Cinema. p. 5. EKA70148.
- ↑ "Youth of the Beast". AllMovie. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Youth of the Beast [Yajû no seishun]". Eureka Video. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- 1 2 Brooke, Michael (December 2014). "New Releases". Sight & Sound. Vol. 24 no. 12. British Film Institute. p. 101.
- 1 2 3 4 McClintock, Pamela (16 May 2012). "Cannes 2012: John Woo Set to Remake Classic Japanese Mafia Pic 'Youth of the Beast'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- ↑ Shackleton, Liz (30 June 2017). "Terence Chang talks China market challenges and new ventures". Screen Daily. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
References
- Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0032-3.
External links
- Criterion Collection essay by Howard Hampton
- Youth of the Beast at Eureka Entertainment
- Youth of the Beast on IMDb
- Youth of the Beast at AllMovie
- Youth of the Beast (in Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database