Boy (Shonen)
Directed by Nagisa Oshima
Written by Tsutomu Nomura
1969/Japan
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
Everything will change. The only question is growing up or decaying, — Nikki Giovanni
Nagisa Oshima gives something different from the usual sex-fueled violence fest. His technical mastery is evident throughout this downer of a film.
Takao Omura is an abusive con-artist with a wife and two sons, Toshio aged around ten and the other around three. The family’s scam is for the wife to thrown herself by the side of a moving car and feign being struck. Takao then extorts money from the driver by threatening to call the police. The ten-year-old later switches roles with his mother. Both Mom and Toshio sustain real injuries in the process.
The real injury is to Toshio’s soul. Neither parent is loving in any way. Toshio dreams of becoming an alien from Andromeda sent to earth to kill all evil-doers.
I am always impressed by Oshima’s technique. It reminds me of color work films of a much more recent vintage. I’m not too keen on abused child movies in general so that was a minus.
