That's what I like so much about Suzuki (and other genre directors from back then). He made genre pictures on studio demand yet sacrificed none of his personal style and artistic aspirations in the process. As a result, Youth of the Beast is as entertaining as it is visually fascinating, the work of a true master craftsman.Jo Shishido plays Jo, a hard-ass guy that won't take no for an answer who inflitrates the local yakuza mob and quickly gains the trust of the boss and his underlings. But when he plays this and another gang against each other, it becomes apparent he has a hidden agenda and operates for reasons of his own. The story is rock solid with enough twists and turns to keep things interested, a whole assortment of colourful (and sociopathic) characters and plenty of violence and hard-boiled badassitude to boot. OK, the violence is relatively tame by today's stadards, but unlike other yakuza flicks from the 60's and 70's, the main character in Suzuki's pictures is his style.Vibrant colours from every end of the palette are combined into beautiful frames, with meticulous attention to detail and an eye for composition. Suzuki is good doing black and white but his work operates on a whole other level when he takes on colour. Clearly a challenge for any director that had to make the transition from b/w to colour (as Sidney Lumet details in his book Making Movies), Suzuki here excels in the task. Unusual yet beautiful compositions include the opening scene which is in shot black and white with with the only exception of a flower appearing in colour, until flashy colour and loud swing music boom at the next cut to reveal a busy Japanese street; or the scenes where Jo and the rival gang boss talk to each other while an old b/w Japanese movie plays in the back; the golden clouds of sand that blow outside the boss's house. There are many such examples yet for all its artistic intent, Youth of the Beast never deviates from its goal: to tell a highly entertaining pulpy crime story of revenge. Not as gritty and nihilistic as the works of Kinji Fukasaku and with a dash of film noir, this is a great ride for fans of 60's crime cinema.

My introduction to the work of Seijun Suzuki was, in part, because of the book "Film Posters: Exploitation" in which appears the poster of "Koroshi No Rakuin" a.k.a. "Branded to Kill" and also a little description of how Suzuki films are. The other part of why I began to check the work of Suzuki was because of the Criterion Collection that released for the first time that mentioned film, so when I when I found that DVD it became in the first film of Suzuki that I watched."Youth of the Beast" is the second Suzuki film that I watch and although is not so strange and experimental as "Branded to Kill" is as great as that film. I really love the way that this film starts with Jo Mizuno, the character of the great Joe Shishido, being so bad ass that quickly gain the respect of one of the most important Yakuza bosses in Tokyo. He began to make activities for this Yakuza organization and after extort a man that has the protection of a rival organization he began to be the objective of the rivals. That scene is one of my favourites in all the film because is a resume of that bad ass personality of Jo, first with his unique methods of extortion, burning the hair of a man and later when he is in real danger because of the rival Yakuzas, his partner save him but instead of going out quickly of the scene he stay and beat those Yakuzas that a minute before almost kill him; An amazing sequence. So that rival organization soon contacts him and here is when we realize of the game that Jo is playing and the reasons of why he is looking out for revenge. The film turns in a game in which Jo is trying to put the two rival organizations against each other by being a spy in his organization and reveling details of their drug deals to their rivals. But everything has a reason and Jo reasons are to revenge a man who was very important and helpful when he went to prison but the final results are prove that they were part of a trap so he is like confused thinking in the real reasons of the dead of his friend and also because the revenge doesn't have the end that he was looking for.Well I loved this unique film and is, definitely, more accessible than "Koroshi No Rakuin". The cast is great with Joe Shishido who is just unique in this roles and the music is really terrific giving the film a unique style.Conclusion: watch this film, if you love any kind of crime films here's a unique tale of revenge set in the world of the Yakuzas. I love this film so there is nothing else but continue checking the films of Seijun Suzuki. 10 out of 10Criterion Collection DVD: The best extras in this DVD are the interviews with Suzuki and Shishido. I found really interesting the words of Shishido, who even show the original script of the film, explaining some of the techniques of Suzuki, how he was as an actor and also talking about his cheeks. Anyway is great to can watch this film and for me is confirmed the great quality of the Criterion Collection but Criterion needs to know that it's really difficult to can afford their DVDs editions and I think they should make single editions for all of their titles. I own about 5 Criterion editions and they are just beautiful, the one of "Dazed and Confused" includes even the original poster but I really prefer to spend the same money of one Criterion edition (about $50 in Mexico) in almost 7 titles of the collection but released in others editions like the films of Kurosawa. My point is that films like the ones of Suzuki doesn't exist in others editions so Criterion needs to reduce their prices for us to can watch this unique titles.

Youth of the Beast is pretty much acclaimed, but I just can't appreciate it very much, partly because it's quite a dated film - the 60s, and the execution reminded me of the old 60s Batman and the Green Hornet series, in its noir crime storyline as well as the use of the ol' fisticuffs to settle scores. Not that I didn't enjoy it though, but my smile stemmed more from the cheesiness.Of course when watching a film from the past, you got to approach it in the context when it was shown in. And it pretty much gave you a glimpse at old Japan, with its production sets, costumes, and acting style - which is exaggerated. Special effects and stunts were quite low key (probably groundbreaking for the era), with some shots suffering from sudden jump cuts, and looking raw. Certain stunts were found to be wanting, but again, for that era, it's adequately executed, though by today's standards, audiences would be more unforgiving.The violence too didn't let up, and for a Yakuza movie, violence is part and parcel to their lifestyle. There are a number of innovative techniques used, such as the flame from an aerosol can, and the insertion of a blade underneath the fingernail as a torture method to inflict pain. I was surprised too at the raw scratching off upholstery from a sofa set, which seemed quite realistically painful for the actress to perform.Director Seijun Suzuki actually helmed the movie Yumeji (1991), from which the theme song is used in Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love. Here, he crafts the movie from a novel by Haruhiko Oyabu, which could have served as inspiration for Lucky Number Slevin in its playing off mob bosses. Here, Jo Mizuno (Joe Shishido) infiltrates and joins a gang by forcing his way through to the top, beating up everyone and anyone who dare stands in his way.Impressed, he's given a stint with the gang, and slowly, a mystery begins to unravel as to his motivations and objectives to doing what he does. It plays out rather straightforward, and you would have guessed his intentions pretty earlier on in the movie, but what impressed is how simple it is to style a movie in this manner back in the 60s. Taking seemingly simple everyday locations like nightclubs and cinemas and having shady dealings taking place under a legitimate business front, does seem rather suggestive of how gangsters operate at the time.I'd pretty much recommend this to those who have high cheese tolerance, or fans of the swinging 60s era movies. Nothing much really to shout about.The Criterion DVD comes with an essay insert, the theatrical trailer (60s trailers all have those sensational big words covering 90% of the screen, very nostalgic), a 4"48' interview with director Seijun Suzuki, and a 7"56' interview with actor Joe Shishido. For a Criteriod DVD, it's pretty much barebones by standards.

"Yaju no Seishun" ("Youth of the Beast") is, without doubt, one of the greatest Japanese films of the 1960's. It is also, arguably, the best film from the amazing director, Suzuki Seijun. This was Suzuki-sensei's "breakthrough" film; in as much as it was the first film where he truly let his flamboyant, dizzying, artistic sense come forward. Full of intense, innovative, eye-popping visuals, the film never loses its solid narrative flow; thanks, in part, to a great script based on the novel by Hard-Boiled master, Oyabu Haruhiko. What more could one ask for? A great story, brilliant direction, and outstanding performances (especially by Shishido Jo). This is a superior example of the Japanese thriller--and, for that matter, crime cinema of the 1960's in general!