Cruel Story of Youth (1960) poster
1960 · drama · crime · japanese

Cruel Story of Youth

Directed by Nagisa Ōshima1h 37m1960
ElsewhereIMDb7.03kRT100%TMDB6.668
  • heavy
  • brisk
  • intense
  • bleak
  • cold
Movie DNA

Heavy, kinetic, measured drama / crime, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitchhiking to rob middle-class men.

Our read · Cruel Story of Youth (1960) reads as a heavy, kinetic, grounded drama · crime · japanese entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Cruel Story of Youth

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want raw Japanese new wave about delinquent youth and toxic bonds.

ends unsettlingit leaves you shakensteady all the waygrips by minute 5attention 4/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upsexual violencegraphic violence

Skip it tonightYou want uplifting coming-of-age or avoid sexual violence.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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