Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Prof-Hieronymos-Grost Joji 'Jo' Mizuno is a tough guy who walks into the lives of two rival crime gangs, playing each against the other for his own financial benefit, both are eager to have him working for them, but both will ultimately regret their decision, when his real motives are revealed. A fascinating crime story based on the novel by Haruhiko Oyabu, that pulls you in instantly, a story that reveals itself only little by little. Suzuki's film is also a pleasure to the eye, the glorious use of colours gives the film a vibrancy that when combined with the demented jazzy score, gives the film an overall pop art feel. The characters are all cool as hell and immaculately well dressed, the Tokyo street scenes are a pleasure to see in full colour, certainly the best use of urban Tokyo I've seen since House of Bamboo. Overall this is a thoroughly entertaining crime flick with pulp overtones, it may not be strong on violence but its certainly not to be missed.

RainDogJr My introduction to the work of Seijun Suzuki was, in part, because of the book "Film Posters: Exploitation" in which appears the poster of "Koroshi No Rakuin" a.k.a. "Branded to Kill" and also a little description of how Suzuki films are. The other part of why I began to check the work of Suzuki was because of the Criterion Collection that released for the first time that mentioned film, so when I when I found that DVD it became in the first film of Suzuki that I watched."Youth of the Beast" is the second Suzuki film that I watch and although is not so strange and experimental as "Branded to Kill" is as great as that film. I really love the way that this film starts with Jo Mizuno, the character of the great Joe Shishido, being so bad ass that quickly gain the respect of one of the most important Yakuza bosses in Tokyo. He began to make activities for this Yakuza organization and after extort a man that has the protection of a rival organization he began to be the objective of the rivals. That scene is one of my favourites in all the film because is a resume of that bad ass personality of Jo, first with his unique methods of extortion, burning the hair of a man and later when he is in real danger because of the rival Yakuzas, his partner save him but instead of going out quickly of the scene he stay and beat those Yakuzas that a minute before almost kill him; An amazing sequence. So that rival organization soon contacts him and here is when we realize of the game that Jo is playing and the reasons of why he is looking out for revenge. The film turns in a game in which Jo is trying to put the two rival organizations against each other by being a spy in his organization and reveling details of their drug deals to their rivals. But everything has a reason and Jo reasons are to revenge a man who was very important and helpful when he went to prison but the final results are prove that they were part of a trap so he is like confused thinking in the real reasons of the dead of his friend and also because the revenge doesn't have the end that he was looking for.Well I loved this unique film and is, definitely, more accessible than "Koroshi No Rakuin". The cast is great with Joe Shishido who is just unique in this roles and the music is really terrific giving the film a unique style.Conclusion: watch this film, if you love any kind of crime films here's a unique tale of revenge set in the world of the Yakuzas. I love this film so there is nothing else but continue checking the films of Seijun Suzuki. 10 out of 10Criterion Collection DVD: The best extras in this DVD are the interviews with Suzuki and Shishido. I found really interesting the words of Shishido, who even show the original script of the film, explaining some of the techniques of Suzuki, how he was as an actor and also talking about his cheeks. Anyway is great to can watch this film and for me is confirmed the great quality of the Criterion Collection but Criterion needs to know that it's really difficult to can afford their DVDs editions and I think they should make single editions for all of their titles. I own about 5 Criterion editions and they are just beautiful, the one of "Dazed and Confused" includes even the original poster but I really prefer to spend the same money of one Criterion edition (about $50 in Mexico) in almost 7 titles of the collection but released in others editions like the films of Kurosawa. My point is that films like the ones of Suzuki doesn't exist in others editions so Criterion needs to reduce their prices for us to can watch this unique titles.

DICK STEEL Youth of the Beast is pretty much acclaimed, but I just can't appreciate it very much, partly because it's quite a dated film - the 60s, and the execution reminded me of the old 60s Batman and the Green Hornet series, in its noir crime storyline as well as the use of the ol' fisticuffs to settle scores. Not that I didn't enjoy it though, but my smile stemmed more from the cheesiness.Of course when watching a film from the past, you got to approach it in the context when it was shown in. And it pretty much gave you a glimpse at old Japan, with its production sets, costumes, and acting style - which is exaggerated. Special effects and stunts were quite low key (probably groundbreaking for the era), with some shots suffering from sudden jump cuts, and looking raw. Certain stunts were found to be wanting, but again, for that era, it's adequately executed, though by today's standards, audiences would be more unforgiving.The violence too didn't let up, and for a Yakuza movie, violence is part and parcel to their lifestyle. There are a number of innovative techniques used, such as the flame from an aerosol can, and the insertion of a blade underneath the fingernail as a torture method to inflict pain. I was surprised too at the raw scratching off upholstery from a sofa set, which seemed quite realistically painful for the actress to perform.Director Seijun Suzuki actually helmed the movie Yumeji (1991), from which the theme song is used in Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love. Here, he crafts the movie from a novel by Haruhiko Oyabu, which could have served as inspiration for Lucky Number Slevin in its playing off mob bosses. Here, Jo Mizuno (Joe Shishido) infiltrates and joins a gang by forcing his way through to the top, beating up everyone and anyone who dare stands in his way.Impressed, he's given a stint with the gang, and slowly, a mystery begins to unravel as to his motivations and objectives to doing what he does. It plays out rather straightforward, and you would have guessed his intentions pretty earlier on in the movie, but what impressed is how simple it is to style a movie in this manner back in the 60s. Taking seemingly simple everyday locations like nightclubs and cinemas and having shady dealings taking place under a legitimate business front, does seem rather suggestive of how gangsters operate at the time.I'd pretty much recommend this to those who have high cheese tolerance, or fans of the swinging 60s era movies. Nothing much really to shout about.The Criterion DVD comes with an essay insert, the theatrical trailer (60s trailers all have those sensational big words covering 90% of the screen, very nostalgic), a 4"48' interview with director Seijun Suzuki, and a 7"56' interview with actor Joe Shishido. For a Criteriod DVD, it's pretty much barebones by standards.

shishido "Yaju no Seishun" ("Youth of the Beast") is, without doubt, one of the greatest Japanese films of the 1960's. It is also, arguably, the best film from the amazing director, Suzuki Seijun. This was Suzuki-sensei's "breakthrough" film; in as much as it was the first film where he truly let his flamboyant, dizzying, artistic sense come forward. Full of intense, innovative, eye-popping visuals, the film never loses its solid narrative flow; thanks, in part, to a great script based on the novel by Hard-Boiled master, Oyabu Haruhiko. What more could one ask for? A great story, brilliant direction, and outstanding performances (especially by Shishido Jo). This is a superior example of the Japanese thriller--and, for that matter, crime cinema of the 1960's in general!