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Ko Nakahira (Japan, 1926) debuted as a film director with
Kurutta Kajitsu/ Crazed Fruit/ Juvenile Jungle (1956),
an adaptation of Shintaro Ishihara's novel, about
the sexual revolution of the westernized postwar generation.
Quite a difference with Ozu's films of the time.
The teenager Haruji and his older brother Natsuhisa
jump out of the taxi and run into the train station.
They board the train just when it's starting.
They are going on a beach vacation.
The innocent
Haruji is bothered that his brother is obsessed with girls, but at the arrival
train station is the one smitten by a pretty girl.
They spend one day on a motorboat and then visit a friend, Frank, a womanizer
who owns a nice villa by the sea.
Haruji is a responsible kid and dislikes the pointless, lazy lifestyle of Frank
and his friends.
The following day Frank, the brothers and their friends enjoy the sea on their
motorboats.
Haruji spots a woman adrift in the sea, far from the beach, and think she has drowned: it's the girl from the train station, who happens to be a long-distance swimmer.
They give her a ride on their motorboat and she forgets her bathing cap.
Haruji's brother spends the evening at an amusement park with Frank and other friends.
Frank's gang gets into a fight with another gang.
The mother and father of the kids arrive. The mother comments that Frank is
a bad influence and mentions that his parents divorced.
Haruji meets the girl, Eri, again at the train station and asks her for a date.
Frank is a spoiled kid who behaves like his role models in the USA.
He dumps his girlfriend Michiko who slaps him in the face.
Haruji's brother spends a night at a temple house with other kids, and the
locals are scandalized that they take girls with them.
Haruji starts seeing Eri on a regular basis and invites her to a party that
Frank organized at his villa, and each boy is supposed to bring girls: the kids are certain that Haruji will show up empty-handed, instead he shows up with
Eri, a beautiful girl. The other kids are shocked and ashamed that the innocent Haruji came wit the prettiest girl.
His own brother is jealous. Annoyed by all the attention,
Haruji borrows Frank's car and takes Eri for a night ride.
They kiss romantically at the beach.
Frank and Haruji's brother hit a night-club and spot Eri with a much older western man.
When Haruji's brother confronts her, she gives him an appointment at another club and then tells him that the older man is her husband and she's a
frustrated housewife who wants to have fun with other younger men.
Haruji's brother tells her to tell the truth to the innocent Haruji who thinks
she's a good girl.
Eri hesitates, reluctant to lose Haruji's love.
He offers her a deal: become his lover and he won't tell Haruji
the truth. She resists him, but then she lets him make love to her.
They start seeing each other in secret at her own home when her husband is not around.
Meanwhile she still sees and kisses the clueless Haruji, with whom she is truly in love.
Haruji's brother confesses to Frank that he's having an affair with Eri
and that she's not what Haruji thinks.
Haruji begins to notice that his brother is behaving strangely.
Eri finally lets Haruji have sex with her. Haruji tells his brother and tells
him that they plan a three-day camping trip.
Haruji's brother rushes to Eri's home and forces her to have sex.
Eri tells him that she doesn't want to see him anymore but
Haruji's brother is determined to keep her.
Haruji's brother intercepts a note that Eri sends Haruji about moving up their camping trip by one day.
Haruji's brother tears up the letter and decides to take Haruji's place.
Frank, who knows, accuses Natsuhisa of betraing his own brother, but Natsuhisa replies that only Eri matters now.
Haruji finds Eri's note that his brother tore up and finds out that his
brother took Frank's sailboat.
Frank finally tells Haruji the truth about Eri and his brother.
Meanwhile, Eri is waiting for Haruji with her luggage but instead Natsuhisa shows up asking her to dump Haruji for him.
Haruji takes a motorboat and looks for them all over the coast but nobody
has seen Frank's sailboat: it turns out that
Natsuhisa decided to sail far away but there isn't enough wind to continue
and it's getting dark.
Haruji keeps searching for them all night long and finally finds them in
the morning. Eri is excited that Haruji came looking for her but Haruji
starts circling around their sailboat without saying a word.
Eventually, she jumps into the sea and starts swimming towards Haruji's boat
but Haruji cold runs over her, killing her, and then crashes into the sailboat,
killing his brother.
Yami no Naka no Chimimoryo/ A Soul to Devil (1971)
(Copyright © 2022 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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