Crazed Fruit

Brothers Natsuhisa (Yujiro Ishihara) and Haruji (Masahiko Tsugawa), are spending their summer at a coastal resort running with a group of similarly-minded college-age youths boating, gambling, generally not doing much of anything. The younger, more naive Haruji, would like nothing more than to meet a nice girl while on this summer vacation, but as we all know, love (or, more to the point, lust) can complicate matters.

Haruji simultaneously looks up to his older brother for his experience but also doesn't really approve of the lifestyle Natsuhisa and his friends lead. They drink, gamble, stay up all night partying, get in to fights at the midway, but all within (looking back from a modern vantage point) in a relatively innocuous '50s JD kind of way. Their unofficial leader, Frank (Masumi Okada, stealing every scene he's in), radiates a cool been-there-done-that laid back cool that the others can only hope to achieve.

Haruji strikes up a romance with a slightly older girl, Eri (Mie Kitahara), who he first meets at the train station upon his arrival and later re-encounters swimming far from shore. She also has an admirer in Natsuhisa. Haruji is in a little over his head with the more experienced Eri. His sexual inexperience and naivety, combined with the oppressive summer heat, opens a window of opportunity for Natsuhisa, setting up a love triangle that is bound to end badly. As jealousies inevitably flare up, the film moves toward a climax that seems almost like a bad dream. It is truly surprising is its intensity left me quite breathless.

The "Sun Tribe" film genre was a relatively short lived one and Crazed Fruit (based on a novel by Shintaro Ishihara, also the author of the novel Pale Flower, and bother of lead actor Yujiro) remains perhaps the best known work even as its exposure in the West has been decidedly limited until now; according to an essay by Chuck Stephens in the dvd's booklet, there was apparently only one English-subtitled print made. Its effect on Japanese cinema was quite significant, however. As Donald Richie points out in his commentary, this loose style of filming, similar to French New Wave, was casually shocking at the time with then-new editing techniques and camera movements. Indeed, the film still feels fresh even as the actual content is nowhere near being explicit. Just watch the scene of Haruji and Eri sunbathing. The sexual tension here is truly palpable, heightened by a series of subtle movements: Eri's leg lightly brushing against Haruji's, Eri wetting her lips in the hot sun, the cut to the water ebbing and flowing between the rocks. It is a genuinely erotic scene, made all the more so by the fact that Haruji himself can no longer take the pressure and suddenly sits up, ready to leave.

Director Ko Nakahira fills the film is full of vital little moments like this. In a scene that feels as though it could have come from a Scorsese picture, Frank and his crew go out to a nightclub for drinks, dancing, and women. They all move into the room effortlessly in synch and sit at a table as if they own the place. There is a fantastic cut, camera already in motion tracking up to Frank, slowly snapping his fingers to the music, eyes steady on the young woman he is eyeing, that just knocks you out with its seamless blend cool smarminess.

A perfect film to watch on a hot, humid summer evening, Crazed Fruit has been given a typically outstanding Criterion transfer. The 1.33 black and white image is excellent with most of the minor dirt being relegated to the opening credits and other process shots. The mono sound is strong and clear, all the better to hear those speeding motorboats and Toru Takemitsu's score (his first). A trailer is present, but the most significant extra feature is Richie's commentary which is exactly the kind that a film like this should have, giving background on the filmmakers and actors and providing both sociological and cinematic contexts for the film. One finishes this modest but very enjoyable package feeling a little more knowledgeable about a small part of Japanese cinema.