Nagisa Oshima's Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (1967) takes place in near-future (the seventies?). It's unclear what happened prior to that, but it left the streets desolate and there's a group of members of a secret army planning to overthrow the government or something. It's an absurd, nihilistic, a bit confusing but always captivating film with the usual political ideas, characteristic of Oshima's work. The youth is aimless and violent, the soldiers are disillusioned, and everyone is obsessed with death and violence, talking about guns all the time while a 18-year old nymphomaniac girl wanting to have sex with each character is constantly ignored, only to become a means of salvation at the end.
The movie is shot exceptionally well - the B&W photography is especially creative in the opening 20 or so minutes, but it stays strong all throughout, with its elaborate lighting schemes, precise actor placement, rapid pans and unusual angles. The entire film is somewhat funny, yet somehow unnerving at the same time. It's totally "artsy", but also straight-forward and entertaining. Hard to describe, but worth a watch.
The movie is shot exceptionally well - the B&W photography is especially creative in the opening 20 or so minutes, but it stays strong all throughout, with its elaborate lighting schemes, precise actor placement, rapid pans and unusual angles. The entire film is somewhat funny, yet somehow unnerving at the same time. It's totally "artsy", but also straight-forward and entertaining. Hard to describe, but worth a watch.