Youth of the Beast (1963)

Youth of the Beast marked a turning point in director Seijun Suzuki's career. No longer content to just crank out production-line gangster films, here Suzuki starts to assert his own voice. The plot is fairly typical for the genre: chipmunk-cheeked Jo Shishido stars as ex-cop Jo Mizuno, who muscles his way into the shadowy world of the yakuza. He gets hired by the clan that killed his former partner while double-dealing with the clan's rival. Yet the plot contains some particularly Suzuki-like details. Why is Jo's partner ... Read More

Youth of the Beast marked a turning point in director Seijun Suzuki's career. No longer content to just crank out production-line gangster films, here Suzuki starts to assert his own voice. The plot is fairly typical for the genre: chipmunk-cheeked Jo Shishido stars as ex-cop Jo Mizuno, who muscles his way into the shadowy world of the yakuza. He gets hired by the clan that killed his former partner while double-dealing with the clan's rival. Yet the plot contains some particularly Suzuki-like details. Why is Jo's partner more interested in guns than in women? Why does Hide, the notorious gay gangster, always slash the face of anyone who mentions his mother? What does this all have to do with the Takeshita School of Knitting? Suzuki's audacious style heightens the absurdity and artifice of both the genre and the medium with pop-art colors, loopy camera placements, and bizarre, dream-like images: A feather-clad dancer silently struts behind sound-proofed two-way mirrors, a pink dust storm serendipitously occurs while a pimp whips a junkie prostitute. The film is a dizzying visual feast whose tone Seijun Suzuki would amplify to the most absurd heights in his later films, Tokyo Drifter (1966) and Branded to Kill (1967). Jonathan Crow, Rovi Read Less

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• DVD, Good 2005, Criterion Collection UPC: 037429203323 See Item Details ▾

  Salzer's Records BEST ventura, CA, USA

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  	Edition: 2005, Criterion Collection DVD, Good	Details: UPC: 037429203323 DVD Region: 1 Discs: 1 Studio: Criterion Collection Released: 01/11/2005 Language: English Alibris ID: 17054973867	Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: $3.43 Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
  Seller's Description: Kiura, Yuzo, Kimuro, Ikuko, Kawaji, Tamio, Kaneko, Nobuo, Hisannatsu, Kosuke, Go, Eiji, Esumi, Hideaki, Aoki, Tomio, Akashi,... Good. 1963 Run time: 92. Former rental from iconic video superstore, Salzers Video (1980-2021). Has category and retro video store stickers! All media in excellent condition!
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• DVD, New 2005, Criterion UPC: 037429203323 See Item Details ▾

  newtownvideo HIGH huntingdon valley, PA, USA

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  	Edition: 2005, Criterion DVD, New Available Copies: 10+	Details: UPC: 037429203323 DVD Region: 1 Discs: 1 Studio: Criterion Released: 01/11/2005 Alibris ID: 17846710259	Shipping Options: Standard Shipping: $3.43 Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
  Seller's Description: Yuriko Abe, Kensuke Akashi, Tomio Aoki, Hideaki Esumi, Eiji Go. New. 1963 Run time: 92. Buy with confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Delivery Confirmation included for all orders in the US.
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2005, UPC: 037429203323 DVD See All from $11.79