Product Description

Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking in the seminal "sun tribe" (taiyozoku) film from director Ko Nakahira. Adapted from the controversial novel by Shintaro Ishihara—and critically savaged for its lurid portrayal of post war sexual revolution among Japan's young and privileged—Crazed Fruit is an anarchic outcry against tradition and the older generation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15030 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2005-06-28
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, Special Edition, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.com
Crazed Fruit ushered in a new era for Japanese cinema. Shot in 17 days (extravagant by Nikkatsu Studio standards), the film's strong language, intimations of casual sex, and complete disregard for authority, would unsettle an entire nation, while blazing a path for the likes of Seijun Suzuki and Nagisa Oshima. (Even François Truffaut was impressed.) It begins one leisurely summer as brothers Natsuhisa (Yujiro Ishihara) and Haruji (Oshima star Masahiko Tsugawa) sail, water-ski, and make "boredom their credo''--until both fall for the married Eri (Ishihara’s future wife, Mie Kitahara). In short order, boredom will be replaced by tragedy. Inventively lensed by Shigeyoshi Mine (Tokyo Drifter), Ko Nakahira's controversial debut was the centerpiece of a 1956 trio of taiyozoku, or "Sun Tribe," films about affluent youth written by novelist-turned-politician Shintaro Ishihara (Yujiro's brother). The suitably dark and jazzy score is by Kurosawa vets Masaru Sato (Yojimbo) and Toru Takemitsu (Ran). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Raw reality
Having lived in Japan for seven years, and taught at a fine University during that time, I saw many young people who were on the fringe of society....even now, and it was unnerving to see the total disregard for others in this film so early after the war. That attitude is still prevalent in Japan.
The fact that the attitude seems rather universal in Western societies, and increasingly all Asian societies as well, the young people grow into adulthood, keeping their adolescence.
It surely fosters the ME, ME, ME behavior and makes real human compassion difficult in light of this obsessive selfishness.
I cringe at some of the scenes in the film because it is such raw reality. Beautiful people doing not so beautiful things,
is a fascination for many people, so I think the film will be an interesting wake up call for our present time.

Bruised Fruit


Penned by Ishihara Shintaro, the same ultraconservative politician-author who wrote The Japan that can Say No, Crazed Fruit depicts the lives of privileged Japanese young people during the 1950s. Unburdened by Japan's militaristic past that their parents' generation had to endure, the members of the Sun Tribe, a name given to certain groups of teenagers during this era, were able to enjoy the early fruits of the early capitalist Japan. However, well aware the faults and frailties of the previous couple of generations, these teenagers desire to toss aside traditional values and to create new ones. Yet, if this film could be used as an example, the only things they seem to gain are material items and boredom.

The central characters of this film are the brothers Natsuhisa and Haruji. Seasoned in the ways of the Sun Tribe, Natsuhisa spends his days in such "decadent" activities such as playing the ukulele, water skiing, and playing cards. Joined by his mixed blood friend Frank, the duo, along with a few other friends, seem to do little more than chase after girls and hang out at the beach. The younger brother Haruji, however, is still a bit naïve and while not fully engraining himself in his brother's lifestyle, obviously wants to make an impression on the older boys

One day at the train station Haruji encounters a young girl and is immediately smitten with her squeaky clean image. Eventually Haruji and Eri become a couple and the young man is elated because of his good fortune. Besides a few innocent first kisses, their relationship remains quite tame and it seems the young lovebirds are willing to take things slow. Yet, of course, a dark cloud begins to hover over their relationship when Natsuhisa becomes jealous of his younger brother and they worsen even more when Natsuhisa discovers that Eri is not quite the girl she makes herself out to be.

Quite tame by today's standards, and in comparison to the original novella, Crazed Fruit caused quite a stir back during the 1950s because of its depiction of teenagers drinking, sleeping around, and getting into fights. However, it helped usher in a new type of film that focused on teenagers. Instead of depicting youths doing all in their power to strengthen Japan, these new films depicted dispirited youths suffering from ennui whose only care was to fill empty time.

Fruit Punch
Before this movie, anti-social behavior, defiance of authority, family dysfunction, dissolute youth, unpunished violence, immorality and sexual promiscuity, even kissing, were not seen on Japanese screens. So in 1956 when it was released, just as James Dean was rebelling in America and the New Wave washing over Europe, "Crazed Fruit" became a cause celebre in Japan, filling theatres, creating a short-lived genre and influencing future filmmakers. Seen today, we may appreciate its "daring" attitudes, editing and cinematography while at the same time containing our impatience as all the familiarities play themselves out.

At a seaside resort, a jaded youth and his innocent brother lust after a young woman who is married to an older American and who is a human cypher. The brotherly triangle is resolved with two murders, but not before a really chilling sequence in which a speedboat repeatedly circles a sailboat. This story, a tad homoerotic and (unbeknownst) told in flashback, may be cliché but the details were new to Japanese audiences (water-skiing! sunbathing! pair dancing!) and owe much to European and American movies; note the homages to George Stevens' "A Place in the Sun" (water sports, sudden swooping close-ups, that radio on the dock.)

By issuing this DVD, The Criterion Collection rightly assigns the picture its proper place in the pantheon of world cinema. Film historian Donald Richie, in his informed commentary, maybe makes more of its relevance than the movie actually earns; a second viewing with Richie is oddly more rewarding than a first viewing without him. That's because period context is crucial to our interest. "Crazed Fruit" was a breakthrough in the evolution of Japanese filmmaking; thanks to it, the movies that came after were more complex, innovative and sophisticated.