CRAZED FRUIT - Kurutta Kajitsu, 1956 An overlooked Japanese Masterpiece:



CRAZED FRUIT --  Kurutta Kajitsu, 1956. (狂った果実)

Spending their summer on a trendy exotic beach, two brothers fall for the same beautiful girl, whose charm and looks may hide more than they they bargained for -- winding up in Murder by Motorboat!

A small postwar Japanese Masterpiece -- Perfection!

"Kurutta Kajitsu"    (狂った果実 ).  1956, is a landmark of Japanese cinema that has more to say about postwar Japan and mid fifties movies in general than all the other films of that decade put together. Made by a fledgling studio director, Kô Nakahira, age 29 at the time of shooting, this is one of those inspired quickly made first efforts (shot in seventeen days) that turn out to be a small masterpiece.  In a streamlined running time of 86 minutes Nakahira and his incredibly well chosen band of young actors say everything that has to be said, and more, with no holds barred. 

It's about a bunch of bored rich kids (The "Sun Tribe") who have motor boats and sailboats in prospering post-war Japan  to amuse themselves with at the summer seashore near Kamakura. The dialogue amongst them is typical teenage putdown banter. Two brothers, the older a cynical fast talking know-it-all wise guy with an exceptional singing voice (Natsuhisa) and the innocent naive younger one (Haruji) both fall in love with the same elusively beautiful young woman (Eri) leading to a deadly case of sibling rivalry. 

Many scenes of water skiing set the pace and lingering shots on the faces of all three principles set the emotional tone throughout. Sex scenes while short and not particularly explicit are nevertheless hot for the time and still smolder today. One young lady sums a political discussion up by saying "We live in boring times. Let's eat". The film is packed to the seams with youthful energy but also a certain sociological and political savvy. 

Of the four principle actors, the two brothers, the older Yujiro Ishihara, was 21, and his kid brother Masahiko Tsugawa, in a most remarkable performance, was only 16. Mie Kitahara the catlike femme fatale loved by both was 23, and Masumi Okada (ice cool go-between Frank) was 21. 

This is practically a perfect film in the sense that hardly a frame could be excised or added without lessening the impact. Every shot makes its point unselfconsciously building to a smashing climax that leaves an unforgettable imprint.  Mind boggling  as the maddened younger brother callously runs his older brother over with his motorboat killing him in the water! 

Forget about Kurosawa and Ozu. If you only see one Japanese film and want to really get some penetrating insights into Japanese culture this is the one to see. 

PS. Tall gangling Yujiro Ishihara went on to become a major singing and film star on a level of popularity in Japan comparable to that of Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley in the United States and married co-star Mie Kitahara in real life in a relationship that lasted until his death in 1987.  Director Nakahira did nothing of note following this sensational debut. A one of a kind piece of 

Kitahara has the hots for Yujiro in the movie and soon after married him in real life, a      marriage that lasted until the end of his life at age 53 -- abbreviated by lung cancer due to insanely heavy smoking.

Masumi Okada, was only half Japanese and had Caucasian good looks.

However he spoke perfect Japanese and has the best one liner in the whole movie.

When a waiter, mistaking him for an American, tries to take his whiskey order in English he replies in causticly simple Japanese "Shōchū aru?" = Ya got any sake...!!

The one droll moment, and a telling one, in an otherwise deadly serious film.

The story on which the movie is based was written by Shintaro Ishihara,  older brother of actor Yujiro. Shintaro was active in politics and later became mayor of Tokyo.  This started a series of spoiled rich kids films, which were referred to as   Taiyōzoku =  the Sun Tribe movies,  and were all the rage at the tail end of the fifties..  Kurutta Kajitsu remains as the pinnace of that era.  The film was greatly admired by Truffaut who had it archived at the Cinematèque in Paris.

In France it was known as "Juvenile Passions" -- not a bad translation!

Mie Kitahara was smolderingly sexy in this most unusual film.