The Sun's Burial
dir. Nagisa Ōshima · 1960
Plot
In Osaka's slum, youth without futures engage in pilfering, assault and robbery, prostitution, and the buying and selling of identity cards and of blood. Alliances constantly shift. Tatsu and Takeshi, friends since boyhood, reluctantly join Shin's gang. Shin's an upstart and moves his gang often to avoid the local kingpin. Hanoko is a young woman with ambitions: first she's in the blood business with her father, then she joins forces with Shin. She soon breaks off that partnership, even though she's taken the sensitive Takeshi under her wing. Double crosses multiply. Those with the closest bonds become each others' murderers.
Why watch
In the slums of Osaka, Tatsu and Takeshi find themselves ensnared in a world of crime, where survival hinges on shifting alliances and the betrayal of those closest to them. Watching this film is like being thrust into a whirlwind of desperation and moral ambiguity, where every decision carries the weight of life and death, and trust is a luxury few can afford.