Japanese Summer: Double Suicide
dir. Nagisa Ōshima · 1967
Feature
Moral Ambiguity
Mood
Dark / Tense
Look
stark black-and-white cinematography with sharp contrasts
Structure
fragmented and nonlinear
Plot
Over the course of a night, a sex-obsessed young woman, a suicidal man, and a gun-crazy wannabe gangster are taken prisoner of a gang awaiting a shootout between a rival gang at dawn.
Why watch
A young woman, a man on the brink of suicide, and a wannabe gangster find themselves trapped in a tense standoff with a gang, each grappling with their own obsessions and fears. Watching this film is like being thrust into a fever dream of urban despair, where every character's desperation is palpable and the night unfolds with a relentless, chaotic energy.
Cultural context
post-war Japanese societal disillusionmentthe rise of youth counterculturethe influence of the Japanese New Wave