InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

WILLIAM FLANIGAN Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars; cinematography/editing = nine (9) stars; subtitles =five (5) stars. Director Ko Nakahira delivers the first of and defines the template for what would become a new Japanese film niche--contemporary tales of juvenile delinquency. The movie plays exclusively to a teenage audience (another Japanese first) and serves up nontraditional role models for those who aspired to the lives pictured in the film--that of privileged youth idling away the summer at a semi-tropical seaside resort (Hayama which is now a bedroom community for Tokyo and Yokohana) free from the confines of family traditions/obligations and cultural taboos. (For starters, they have sail boats, speed boats, water skis, cars, lots of expensive booze, and plenty of casual sex at their disposal.) Acting is across-the-board excellent with actress Mie Kitahara delivering a stunning performance which is mostly visual (and cryptic), since the script provides very little of substance for her to say. The male-oriented script is especially wordy, line readings are super fast, and contemporary slang dominates (as one would expect in a youth-oriented photo play). Subtitles are indispensable to catch things, but also suffer from being a bit too wordy (there are also instances where a subtitle precedes a line delivery). Costumes and set designs are strictly Western. The real stars of this movie, however, are cinematography and editing. Aside from instances of obviously phony rear projections and a studio "exterior," real exterior action scenes occur on open water (in Sagami Bay) where the camera is as fluid as the ocean itself (there is also one stunning shot apparently made from a helicopter toward the film's end). Editing is jump-cut city and especially dynamic, constantly fluctuating from one type of scene construction to another. This makes for a movie that still looks fresh and modern despite being almost 60 years old! Film score takes a bit of getting used to (a jazz saxophone and Hawaiian guitar predominate!), but adds dramatic punch to most scenes. One of a kind, the first of its kind, and highly recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

RainDogJr The Criterion Collection does not disappoint. And I say that because I came to this film, Kô Nakahira's Kurutta kajitsu (aka: Crazed Fruit), without knowing a thing about it or about its director or about the book in which it is based or about the writer of that book (Shintarō Ishihara), I came to this simply because it is part of the Criterion Collection. Anyways if I would have been seeking Crazed Fruit, well I'm not a 100% sure to confirm this but it seems that the only R1 DVD of Crazed Fruit that exists is the one from the Criterion Collection. At one point of the film one of the protagonists (we have two brothers as protagonists: Masahiko Tsugawa plays the younger, Haruji, and Yujiro Ishihara plays the eldest Natsuhisa), Haruji to be exact,

Polaris_DiB Arguably, all Japanese film has been about the struggles between modernism and traditionalism in Japanese culture, an ambivalent struggle which subsists to this day and is a huge influence on Western ideas of postmodernism. Crazed Fruit sticks out because it's one of the most "Westernized" of them, to the point of questioning Japanese youth's forgetfulness of traditional values. In Crazed Fruit, the "traditional" only exists in parents houses... the rest of the sets, the costuming, the cars, the activities, the dialog, and the characters are very into American trends in a movie made during American occupation. The movie is stylized around the beach party movies of the 50s Americana and the existential thrillers of the French.Two brothers are vacationing on a beach side ('vacationing' is pretty much all they do throughout the grand majority of this movie) when the younger, more innocent one, Haruji, falls for a beautiful young woman he keeps running across. Everything seems to be turning out swell for young Haruji and Eri, until his brother discovers that Eri is actually married to an Americanized businessmen. Instead of going the honorable route and telling Haruji about this fact, his brother decides to use the information as lateral to get Eri for himself. Thus starts a morbid love triangle as Eri is torn between a naive younger brother and a womanizer older brother all while hiding it from a mostly absent husband. Tragedy ensues.It's a really well-made film, but it has its problems. Its biggest one is that none of the characters are very likable. It's really hard to want any of them to succeed, really, which takes a lot of drama out of what is an otherwise extremely effective ending. Also, the relationship itself is a little over-dramatic, the type of story that reminds today's audiences of the type of people who would appear on Jerry Springer than anything else. It's morbid ending goes a little unearned when it comes down to a jerk older brother and whiny younger fighting over a woman who can't stand up for herself.That's not to say that it doesn't have its qualities. The music is a highlight, plus some very amazing imagery, especially beach-side. A montage of close-ups as young characters discuss the state of Japan is one of the movie's most brilliant sequences, not to mention the build-up of tension at the end.The thing is, it's quite clear to see that at the time this came out, it would have been a shocking and unique movie for Japanese audiences. The way it portrays sexuality, the existential ending, and the break-down of family values in the older brothers' sleaze and Eri's infidelity was very unique to that time, moreso in Japan than in America. Today, however, Japanese cinema has more than moved on, and this type of story is too familiar to Western audiences. It's not too often that a foreign film feels "dated" because of the fact that they come from a different culture that has a different historical and sociological perspective. However, Crazed Fruit is, indeed, dated. It still serves as a commentary motivated through melodrama, but it's mostly interesting today for providing a useful link between the very different post-war Japanese cinema and the Japanese cinema of today; for non-Japanese cinema history people, I'm not too sure it has much to offer.--PolarisDiB

Meganeguard Penned by Ishihara Shintaro, the same ultraconservative politician-author who wrote The Japan that can Say No, Crazed Fruit depicts the lives of privileged Japanese young people during the 1950s. Unburdened by Japan's militaristic past that their parents' generation had to endure, the members of the Sun Tribe, a name given to certain groups of teenagers during this era, were able to enjoy the early fruits of the early capitalist Japan. However, well aware the faults and frailties of the previous couple of generations, these teenagers desire to toss aside traditional values and to create new ones. Yet, if this film could be used as an example, the only things they seem to gain are material items and boredom.The central characters of this film are the brothers Natsuhisa and Haruji. Seasoned in the ways of the Sun Tribe, Natsuhisa spends his days in such "decadent" activities such as playing the ukulele, water skiing, and playing cards. Joined by his mixed blood friend Frank, the duo, along with a few other friends, seem to do little more than chase after girls and hang out at the beach. The younger brother Haruji, however, is still a bit naïve and while not fully engraining himself in his brother's lifestyle, obviously wants to make an impression on the older boys One day at the train station Haruji encounters a young girl and is immediately smitten with her squeaky clean image. Eventually Haruji and Eri become a couple and the young man is elated because of his good fortune. Besides a few innocent first kisses, their relationship remains quite tame and it seems the young lovebirds are willing to take things slow. Yet, of course, a dark cloud begins to hover over their relationship when Natsuhisa becomes jealous of his younger brother and they worsen even more when Natsuhisa discovers that Eri is not quite the girl she makes herself out to be.Quite tame by today's standards, and in comparison to the original novella, Crazed Fruit caused quite a stir back during the 1950s because of its depiction of teenagers drinking, sleeping around, and getting into fights. However, it helped usher in a new type of film that focused on teenagers. Instead of depicting youths doing all in their power to strengthen Japan, these new films depicted dispirited youths suffering from ennui whose only care was to fill empty time.