new "youth film'?

[Michael Kerpan]

I think most of Aoi Miyazaki's films (including
Su-ki-da) have had too much of an element of melodrama
to fit into the hypothtical "gentle youth-film"
category".  

If you thought "Loved gun" was bad, just wait till you
see "Gimme Heaven / Synesthesia".  And yet she remains
the best young actress of Japan (albeit tied with
Chizuru Ikewaki), maintaining her own dignity despite
her material (I didn't see the one where people grew
tails, however). 

MEK

--- Jerry Turner <jdturner1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Film genres or themes that are largely specific to a
> single country are
> always interesting to me.
> 
> Lately, I've watched a lot of films, some that could
> be considered pink
> films, that involve two young people in their teens
> or early twenties living
> in the same building developing a relationship or at
> least an extreme
> infatuation with one another; movies like Ryoko
> Yoshida's *Love Twisted*,
> Hiroki's *Tokyo Trash Baby*, Sato Toshiki's
> suprisingly good pink film *Empty
> Room*. All of these involve a female infatuated with
> a male that lives down
> the hall or next door. There are other films I've
> watched that have this
> similar plot/theme, but their names escape me.
> 
> As for seishun eiga (youth films), filmmaker Hiroshi
> Ishikawa's two films
> fit in that genre, especially *Su-ki-da*. I think
> he's a great, and largely
> ignored filmmaker, perhaps because of his tv
> commerical background.
> 
> For more youth films, just run down Aoi Miyazaki's
> filmography. Even if the
> film itself doesn't fit the genre perfectly, it's
> likely her character does;
> films such as the dreadful* Loved Gun* that I turned
> off after about an hour
> last night. Even Aoi's puppy dog face couldn't save
> that one.
>