Youth of the Beast (1963)

Directed by Seijun Suzuki. Starring Joe Shishido, Misako Watanabe, Tamio Kawaji, Eiji Gô, Minako Katsuki, Akiji Kobayashi, Eimie Esumi, Hiroshi Kono, Kôichi Uenoyama, Naomi Hoshi.

Flamboyantly unorthodox crime film, another “Red Harvest” riff out of Japan where savage (and “cheeky”) tough guy Shishido trades loyalties between a couple of yakuza bosses and pits their respective gangs against each other. His secret isn’t all that surprising, but some of the behavior is, as director Suzuki uses melodrama in such an extreme fashion as to generate absurdist comedy. Scripting tends to be trite and confusing, so the visuals and energy are what propel this violent gangster yarn to the pulpy finish line. Striking color contrasts sometimes make the whole thing feel like a comic book come to life. Hajime Okumura’s splashes of unconventional sound and instrumentation applied to the jazzy potboiler music are a nice touch. Aside from the title text and a single flower, the opening sequence is shot in black & white. Suzuki has a small onscreen role.

73/100