Review for Youth of the Beast

‘Youth of the Beast’ is an incredibly impressive movie by any measure. It’s wildly inventive in its direction, cinematography, approach to acting and its twisting narrative.


This could so easily have been just another in a run of Yakuza movies Directed by Seijun Suzuki's at Nikkatsu Studios. But it stands head and shoulders above his previous work (including films like Go to Hell, and Bastards: Detective Bureau 2 3) but the level of creative invention and attention to every detail of ‘Youth’ has ensured that it has become, with the passing of time, one of the studios most prestigious releases.


This ‘Masters of Cinema’ release on Blu-Ray is top notch and a fantastic way to see the film at its pristinely presented best, in original aspect ratio and with a flawless detailed image showing just how great this must have looked on release in Japan in 1962. Beautiful colouring and frequently breath-taking cinematography, matched by some of the moodiest performances every committed to celluloid, mean that this is just a joy to watch from start to finish.



It’s an uncompromising film from the outset, opening with a wide street scene where one gang of youths attacks another, right in the middle of a busy street. But that ‘West Side Story’ opener belies the moody, violently dark and brooding film that follows.




The film’s central character is called Jo (brilliantly portrayed by Jo Shishido who curiously wears cheek implants throughout) who is a man of few words but plenty of action. He’s utterly fearless and puts himself in harm’s way again and again to (we believe) endear himself to the biggest local gang in town – or so we think. As the plot unfolds, it becomes apparent that he is driven by divided loyalties which we first assume driven by money but which, it transpires, has everything to do with the set-up of a colleague who was found dead in the arms of a mistress.



Knowing the victim as a good man (who looked after Jo’s wife when he was doing time in jail) who was devoted to his wife, and smelling a set up, Jo is hell-bent on getting to the truth.

What follows is a string of violence and drama involving hardened gangsters, call-girls, drug traffickers, and the police as Jo takes them all on to get to the truth.


There are many violent scenes (so this is not for the fainthearted) as well as some sublime moments worthy of Hitchcock – like the scene behind a two way mirror where all the sound of a busy nightclub is suddenly lost creating a terrifyingly cold atmosphere that brings a frightening frisson to what follows. Or the occasional use of black and white with a spot colour for emotional emphasis. Or the wild, windy desert-scape where one of his ‘bosses’ beats his lover before falling on her in a fit of lust. Or the meetings behind the screen of a local cinema, the headquarters of a rival gang. Hyper-real but somehow in keeping with the film.


Jo Shishido’s performance as the moody vigilante at the centre of the plot is so beautifully under-played that it is utterly believable, a less-handsome, Japanese version of Clint Eastwood – but with hamster cheeks. It just works.


Being a Masters of Cinema release not only does the transfer look great but it comes with some illuminating special features which include a really top-notch 36-page booklet featuring a new essay by Frederick Veith and lots of rare archival imagery. It also has a really informative assessment of the movie (in interview form) by genre expert Tony Rayns who knows his onions and is more than willing to share them. Oh – and you get a theatrical trailer too, as well as a DVD copy of the whole shebang.




All in all, another great release from Masters of Cinema which will please all cinophiles, regardless of whether they have a particular interest in Japanese cinema or not. It’s just a damned good movie by any measure and the transfer here is superb. Put it on the wish-list now!