taiyozoku eiga

[Stephen Cremin]

"Taiyozoku eiga" means "sun tribe films", ie films about rebellious  
sexed-up teens as popularised by Ishihara Shintaro in his novels.   
CRAZED FRUIT (1956) was the best known film of the genre, which was  
scripted by Ishihara as well as based on his novel.  Oshima's CRUEL  
STORY OF YOUTH (1960) could be described as an offshoot from the  
genre, politicising it.  Yes, parallel things were happening in  
French and Japanese cinema, and it has been argued that a "nouvelle  
vague" in Japan predated the French one.

Great to hear that Criterion have CRAZED FRUIT.  Someone from  
Criterion was in Udine for the Nikkatsu season and I hope he caught  
"taiyozoku eiga" SEASON OF HEAT (aka THE WANTED ONES, aka THE WEIRD  
ONES) by Kurahara Koreyoshi, since that was for me the discovery of  
the week.

Stephen Cremin


On May 23, 2005, at 11:00 AM, Christian Helwig wrote:

> Hi,
>
> i just read about a new release by criterion called "Crazed Fruit"  
> by Ko Nakahira and is mentioned to be part of the "/taiyozoku  
> eiga" /era... .
> What does this mean? Is it comparable to the french nouvelle vage?
>
> I´ve googled it but... .
>
> Thanks,
>
> Christian
>