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Cruel Story of Youth



This second feature by the Japanese cinema-insurgent Nagisa Ôshima (In the Realm of the Senses, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence) galvanised its home-turf with its topsy-turvy directorial dexterity and stinging castigation of an indolent, self-indulgent youth culture reposing on the eve of the turbulent 1960s.

When high-schooler Makoto is saved from the advances of a lecherous middle-aged man by uni student Kiyoshi, the pair embark on a fits-and-starts affair that finally settles into a sexually extortionary, mutually exploitative dependency that promises to spell their relationship's doom.

Ôshima's breakthrough portrait of alienated youth comes courtesy of the 2014 Shochiku 4K scan that resurrected the film's glorious color palette, recently described by critic and programmer James Quandt as "running riot with retro: pusing neon, turquoise telephones, hair teased into shellacked grandeur." The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Cruel Story of Youth in a Dual Format edition, for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK.

SPECIAL DUAL FORMAT (BLU-RAY + DVD) EDITION:

• Gorgeous 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray from the 2014 4K Shochiku restoration
• Optional English subtitles
• New video interview with film critic Tony Rayns
• Original theatrical trailer
• 36-page booklet containing an essay, interview material, and rare archival imagery

Great to see Oshima finally joining the MoC ranks, especially this one, which for years I've hoped Criterion would do something with. Based I'm assuming on the 4k Shochiku restoration, this should easily be a big step up from the Raro DVD and (pending specs) also offer some supplements on this transitional early stage of his career in which he was showing the first signs of breaking out of the mold, while making a film that hasn't lost its bite all these years later.

As usual, the screencaps are useful but I don't know what Gary is talking about.

...the usual greenish overhang we have seen on countless older Japanese film. ... Like many films from that country the visuals are very thick and heavy.

Overhang? "Thick and heavy" visuals as a feature of Japanese cinema?

I would guess the 2.39:1 aspect ratio is an impressive 1080P presentation looking better than I imagined.

???

To see what "overhang" meant in other contexts, I searched for it on the site but I'm now even more confused.

On Kiss Me, Stupid: "...a likable film even with all the sexist overhang, which is really a big part of the fun."

On River's Edge: "Keep in mind the uncomfortable overhang of the film but it is certainly recommended to those who can accept the morally distasteful elements of the plot."

And did anyone else know that Gary had posted financial commentary at DVD Beaver?

That looks wonderful! Who cares about a slight blue-green tint?

I was I was that daft, could get loads of BD freebies!

Orlac wrote:I was I was that daft, could get loads of BD freebies!

Believe me, it is often not that easy and you often get check discs you need to send back once you've reviewed them.

Finally watched this. Surprisingly, no greenish 'overhang' at all compared to other Japanese colour films of this vintage. The colours are so eye-popping all the time that I actually wondered whether they could be really correct. Whatever, an impressive film, not yet as biting and well-organised as Oshima's films of the later 60s, but definitely well worth checking out.

But actually, buying this in the end just felt like paying the entry ticket to the 55 min. Tony Rayns interview. More a lecture, really, and the good professor really tells you everything that you ever wanted to know about Oshima's early career, the studios, the political situation, and then he branches out into explaining the rest of Oshima's work and making entirely convincing comparisons between this film and "The Realm of the Senses". Amazing. I could listen to Rayns for hours on end.

I read somewhere that the greenish overhang common to Japanese transfers is, like their different black levels, due to differing TV requirements.

I for one find greenish overhang to be extremely refreshing!

Orlac wrote:I read somewhere that the greenish overhang common to Japanese transfers is, like their different black levels, due to differing TV requirements.

This is the myth that just won't die

The entire world uses the same HDTV system, as specified in ITU recommendation #709. The white point, black level, white level, everything, is the same worldwide.

It has its origins in the fact that in American NTSC (NTSC-M) the black level was set at 7.5 IRE, whereas PAL systems and Japanese NTSC had it logically set at 0 IRE. So importers of content from different countries had to adjust controls accordingly (or put up with gray washed out blacks, or lost details). This was in the days of analog voltages and hasn't been an issue since LaserDisc.

I'm thinking pre-HDTV in terms of set requirments. Some of the transfers could be old.

Even pre-HDTV, the white point of all video systems worldwide has been standardized at D65 (which is just off neutral white). The color primaries varied between NTSC as originally designed, NTSC revised (SMPTE-C) and EBU/PAL, but that was fairly subtle in comparison.

Oh...so what's with the green/washed out black Japanese transfers?

Sorry, I'm getting confused!