Nagisa Oshima

Money is the currency that is engaged in these transactions. The result of refusing to take part in this constant cycle is death. The moment both characters refuse to keep hurting others and one other is the moment when they both die. Cruel Story of Youth is a deeply pessimistic movie about a complex period of transition in the history of Japan. In this environment, everyone is trapped in a abusive and perverse society, but as with the old samurai and the code of Bushido, Oshima seems to conclude that the only escape is…