Crazed Fruit
aka Kurutta Kajitsu
Ko Nakahira, 1956, Japan, bw (8.9*)
This once-overlooked small Japanese film, once considered shocking, is now considered a modern classic. It follows the story of two brothers who are attracted to the same strange girl that one meets at a train station. The film establishes a languid pace that befits a leisurely summer romance filled with sunbathing and boating along the coastline, traveling to nearby islands, as characters seek more revelations about each other thus revealing themselves to the audience. We are eventually yanked from our summer meditation by a confluence of events that moves all the characters toward a resolution that becomes the focal point of the entire film.
Visually striking images and a seething undercurrent of emotions make this film the equivalent of the best of Antonioni, whom it visually resembles. Not to be missed by fans of Japanese or art cinema.
