If You Were Young: Rage (Kimi ga wakamono nara)
1970, 90 min., color, 35mm.
Written by Takehiro Nakajima, Koji Matsumoto and Kinji Fukasaku. With Tetsuo Ishidate, Gin Maeda, Choichiro Kawarazaki, Michie Terada.
Fukasaku’s first independently produced film portrays five youths who come from the countryside to work in Tokyo after finishing junior high school and traces how their idealistic dreams gradually fade away against the backdrop of the swift, harsh economic growth of the 1960s.
A message from the director’s son:
Kinji Fukasaku, my father, died on January 12 this year. Among the many joys in his career were screenings of the Fukasaku Retrospective, which toured in North America, including a stop at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2001.
The Brooklyn screenings were special to him and he was particularly pleased with the warm response his work received there.
Like my father, I admire Japan Society for consistently introducing so much Japanese culture in a city that itself is rich in many cultures. I appreciate the honor you have bestowed upon him by showing two of his films.
I am sorry I cannot be with you as I am busy with post-production for Battle Royale II, which opens in Japan on July 5.
We miss him terribly.
Kenta Fukasaku
- Monday, June 30, 2003
- 6:30 pm