Wakamatsu dipinge una società nella quale i giovani sono fuori di testa, fra delinquenza e droghe, la polizia non vuole indagare, allora ci pensa lui, il padre, un pover'uomo della provincia che cerca e cerca, disperato, perché il figlio è morto, spera almeno per una nobile causa, e trova che è morto per niente, per mano di una banda e di un giovane delinquente impunito.
un ritratto impietoso di una società alla deriva.
l'attore che interpreta il padre è bravissimo, già solo per lui è un film da vedere - Ismaele
The epicentre of
Japan’s cutting edge cinema, theatre and music scene at the end of the 1960s,
the atmosphere of Tokyo’s Shinjuku district has been described as
simultaneously that of a carnival, a giant party and a war zone. In the opening
scene of Wakamatsu’s portrait of the area, two members of an underground
theatre troupe are slain mid-performance by a group of anonymous thugs. The
police are unwilling to get involved in any investigation, and so it is left to
the murdered actor’s father to solve the mystery. His only clue at the
beginning is the cryptic words Shinjuku Mad – but is this a person, a place, or
perhaps even a state of mind? His search leads him into an alien underworld in
which every one of his values finds itself broached, as he encounters
permissive sex parties, John Lennon wannabes strumming guitars and wailing Hare
Krishnas, and ultimately a violent gang of anarchist bikers preaching nothing
less than world revolution. One of Wakamatsu’s favourites among his own films, Shinjuku
Mad provides a
fascinating testament to the vibrant counter-cultural milieu in which the
director operated.
Un bon film de Wakamatsu : critique féroce de la société japonaise, constat
politique amer de la cruelle confrontation des générations. L'émergence d'un
nouveau Japon, en contradiction avec la société traditionnelle ancrée sur des
valeurs que la jeunesse rejette, est le point d'ancrage sur lequel le cinéaste
s'appuie pour universaliser son propos, car les conflits générationnels à la
fin des années 60 ne sont pas l'apanage du Japon bien entendu. Quoiqu'il en soit, en
nous faisant suivre les pas de ce père en quête de deuil après le meurtre de
son fils,..
…Cet acteur est
remarquable, donne une intensité époustouflante même. Au regard des prestations
banales des jeunes -pour deux ou trois c'est même franchement merdique- il
passe pour un grand monsieur. On ne peut lui enlever qu'il est habité par son
personnage. Je retiendrai donc surtout sa performance, celle de Masao Adachi, le scénariste
habituel de Wakamatsu dont l'écriture se
révèle aussi sèche et froide que l'exigeait le sujet et pour finir cette
réalisation toujours aussi bonne, originale, incorporant ces plans urbains,
disséquant la froideur du béton et la mort de l'humanité comme peu savent le
faire, dessinant une esthétique qui n'appartient qu'à lui.
…The
father of a slain young man comes to Tokyo to find the killer, known as
Shinjuku Mad. The police are no help so he sets out on his own, poking around
in underground coffee bars and crash pads in Shinjuku, then ground zero for the
Japanese counter cultural movement. He’s straight-laced and square but he’s not
insensitive to young people. In fact, he likens them to the architects of the
Meiji Restoration, the men who helped bring Japan out of its feudal age.
It’s clear Wakamatsu and his usual
screenwriter, Adachi Masao, have more respect for the honest working man of
Japan here than the “revolutionary,” who talks a lot but never does anything
except squabble with others. Even more than the fact that Shinjuku
Madfeels like a real movie, complete with coherent plot and
resolution, it’s this aspect that surprised me the most. That a revolutionary
filmmaker should take the position of the conservative working class says a lot
about how he felt about the state of the revolution…
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