Masaki Kobayashi – a variation on the theme of Italian neorealism in the style of Ozu Exactly. Using the stylistic, cheerful brilliance of Yasujiro, Kobayashi introduces us to the life of post-war Japan. This is a strange crossroads of worlds, where quite ancient characters collide, as if they came out of Rasemon and modern technocrats. They even dress the opposite way. Some are strictly in national traditions, and some are very much in the style of the recently victorious power. They think polar. The ancient here is associated with archaic weakness. Hence the main plot conflict of the yakuza gang and the young Japanese “gentleman”, whose willpower is comparable to the characters of Gregory Peck of the late 40s.
So it turns out that the composition drawn by Masaki Kobayashi offers us a semi-documentary look at Japan of those years. The clash of a simple guy with a yakuza gang is an eternal conflict for a woman. Here you can see a much more complex collision. Conformists and technocrats, pragmatic sloths and willful arbiters of progress. And if this assumption is true, then it becomes clear why the plot funnel turns out to be so strange, dragging the entire narrative in the end. After all, in fact, forming a vivid conflict and numerous emotional storms, our heroes-opposition, both turn out to be just humiliated boys. Broken and crushed, they can not even really win the desired woman. I will add only that Kobayashi depicted the final not without grace, suddenly giving a shine of noir.
But this is deep, and on the surface - not too elegant story of difficult youth. Like the background - trucks with soldiers, plying constantly around the city. Nope. These two won't stab each other. Poor people who hide their inner weakness. Meanwhile, even before his unconditional hits (Kwaidan and Harakiri), Masaki Kobayashi demonstrates a serious claim to original skill.
6 out of 10