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
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