Youth Of The Beast

Year: 1963

Grade: B+

Country: Japan

Director: Suzuki

Review

another enjoyable seijun suzuki film. i wouldn’t call this a masterpiece, but it’s still a fine film. visually suzuki is less ambitious and inventive here, but the film still has the suzuki signature. he still plays with color and he has some interesting shots (one inside an office where the back wall is a one-sided mirror that looks into a night club and a similar shot where the protagonist is forced up against another one-sided mirror so we get to see his face squished up against the glass). the final fight sequence is pretty inventive – the protagonist is being held hostage and his hung upside down from a chandelier which forces him to fend off his captors while hanging and swinging by his feet. this one has a plot that’s a little tougher to follow, but things are well wrapped up by the end. the lead was the lead in branded to kill as well.