Eiko Nagashima

Yoshihiko now lives with a couple of old friends, a married couple, Ryosuke and Aya. They share a past in several senses. It was Ryosuke who walked off with Yoshihiko’s girlfriend Aya. In doing so, he broke up with his own girlfriend, Reiko. Now they are all back together again and old feelings begin to surface. The complex relationship and history between the four gradually becomes apparent: Yoshihiko was convicted and imprisoned during the student movement.

Directorial debut of Haruhiko Arai.Read More »

Synopsis
Here’s a terrific updating of the 1956 Nikkatsu classic Crazed Fruit; a new version that is superior to the original. While the original was a seminal sun tribe classic, the new version examines the 1980s Japanese youth from a more intimate, less political perspective. Consequently, it’s a remake in name only. The film focuses on the unstable relationship between two youngsters: a guy working in a sex club and a rich girl who trades her stepfather lover for a younger boyfriend just for a change. Neither one of them really understand each other – or themselves. Like many of director Kichitaro Negishi’s other films, this movie would also be more at home in Art Theatre Guild’s catalogue than in the Roman Porno series where it was released (Negishi’s next film, Distant Thunder, was, in fact, an ATG production). Read More »

Quote:
This is an excellent piece of cinema, about life of yakuza (gangster) and his family. Ryuji tries to quit yakuza and spend a decent life with his wife Mariko and daughter Aya…but as he’s used to getting easy money, it’d become hard for him to work hard and get little. Eventually he’s back to where he belongs.Read More »