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Welcome to Stuff You Should Watch, my chance to play an interweb film critic and recommend some strange and wonderful Japanese movies. My first recommendation comes from ancient Japan: 1963! Post war Tokyo was a swinging place with the Japanese keen to imitate Europe and the West, and from this came new styles of film. Director Seijun Suzuki gives us a glimpse into this world with Youth of the Beast (Yaju no seishun).

The plot is a simple yet satisfying one: Jo is a detective set up by some baddies. When his former partner shows up dead with a whore, Jo sets out to find out what’s up. This naturally leads him to the Yakuza where he gets a gig as a new soldier for the boss, a guy who strokes his cat constantly and throws knives with deadly accuracy. 

Now this should already be enough to get you to watch this film! However I’d also like to add that this film still looks great visually especially when compared to other films of the same era. The music is very nicely done bebop which lends fitting accents and punctuation throughout. Unlike many other Japanese films of the era, the whole of Youth of the Beast is very stylized and the pacing keeps things from getting stale. The film is light viewing and all a bit camp, but still charming from beginning to end.