Taiyô to bara (1956)
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Directors
Cast
Akira Ishihama, Katsuo Nakamura, Sadako Sawamura, Yoshiko Kuga
A poor young man drawn into delinquency encounters a wealthy peer whose boredom-driven rebellion sharpens his sense of injustice.
The story
Kiyoshi is a poor, aimless young man frustrated by his social circumstances, and he drifts into delinquency. Ashamed of his father’s past as a trafficker and of his mother’s poverty, he spends time on beaches stealing from bathers with other young outsiders. He meets Masahiro, a wealthy, idle young man who brings him into his circle of friends for amusement. Their different circumstances sharpen Kiyoshi’s sense of injustice: Masahiro can rebel out of boredom, while Kiyoshi is driven by despair. The encounter highlights the unequal pressures behind their rebellion.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Kiyoshi is a poor, aimless young man who, frustrated by his social circumstances, drifts into delinquency. Ashamed of his father’s past as a trafficker and of the poverty his mother lives in, he hangs around the beaches, stealing from bathers with other young outsiders. His encounter with Masahiro, a wealthy, idle young man who brings him into his circle of friends for amusement, only heightens his sense of injustice: one can afford to rebel out of boredom, while the other is driven to it by despair. Unable to seize the few chances he has to get out of his situation, and torn between shame, anger, and a desire for recognition, Kiyoshi sinks deeper into a marginal way of life. Symbolically marked by a tattoo that stigmatizes him socially, he eventually accepts his fate and chooses a radical path, turning his despair into a final act that is both dark and almost romantic.
Genres
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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