Waga seishun ni kuinashi (1946)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Eijirô Hisaita (writer)
Akira Kurosawa (writer)

Release Date:

6 June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Yukie, the well-bred daughter of a university professor, is shocked when her father is relieved of his post for his political teachings...

Plot Keywords:

Anti War

Cast

Setsuko Hara	...	Yukie Yagihara
Susumu Fujita	...	Ruykichi Noge
Denjirô Ôkôchi	...	Professor Yagihara
Haruko Sugimura	...	Madame Noge
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Madame Yagihara
Kokuten Kodo	...	Mr. Noge
Akitake Kôno	...	Itokawa
Takashi Shimura	...	Police Commissioner 'Poison Strawberry' Dokuichigo
Taizô Fukami	...	Minister of Education
Masao Shimizu	...	Professor Hakozaki
Haruo Tanaka	...	Student
Kazu Hikari	...	Detective
Hisako Hara	...	Itokawa's Mother
Shin Takemura	...	Prosecutor
Tateo Kawasaki	...	Servant

Also Known As:

No Regrets for My Youth
No Regrets for Our Youth

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences (2006) (V)

emphasis on it being 'melodrama', an early Kurosawa curio with a strong second half

Perhaps I'm least likely among the several who've commented here about Akira Kurosawa's first post WW2 film, No Regrets For Our Youth, to recommend it so high, as despite it still being a good film it might be (for the moment) my least favorite from the director's 30-film oeuvre. It's still got something to it, but it takes a while to get there. And some of the problems with the film are even acknowledged by the director himself in his autobiography, where he mentions that the film was shot from a revised draft- done so by the insistence of censors who, while wanting a film the opposite of the militaristic propaganda that had been going on during the war, wouldn't let his full artistic vision (and, more importantly, script by him and Eijiro Hisaita) make it to the screen. Most of these are not very prominent or awful, but they keep the film from being the utmost powerful and immediate with the style alongside the content. The director's techniques, and (one of the only times in the director's career) female star make it worthwhile, though if you're not a fan of the filmmaker or much of a Japanese film buff or historian it's sluggish going.

Basically, it was hard for me to really connect with much of what was going on in the first half, which showed Japan descending through the 30s (mostly in 1933, the film's first half-hour) into a fascist state where freedom- prominently here in schools- is quelled. The quasi-love triangle that is set up between Yukie (Setsuko Hara), Noge (Sususmu Fugita), and Itokawa (Akitake Kono) is melodramatic to a fault, where Yukie starts as a bright, pretty but un-deciding girl who soon figures to start out a life for herself independently. It's after years of student revolts (which are brilliantly filmed and edited, one of the few times early in the film), where her two main male companions show their sides- Noge for freedom and independence, Itokawa for conformity and the militaristic side of things. Much of this part of the film is done in line with what I might've seen in a Hollywood melodrama of the period, nice music with some heavy dramatic points, all put alongside a political side that doesn't really work. It's only after Noge reunites with Yogie, and the two marry, and No Regrets For Our Youth really gets interesting.

Kurosawa also stated that he put a lot of "feverish energy" into the images in the last twenty to thirty minutes of the picture. This does indeed show, as Yugie- following Noge becoming the espionage story of the moment, disgracing his farmer parents- decides to purge her sadness and sacrifice herself into farming the rice fields with Noge's mother. These scenes reach that near silent film magnificence, merging Kurosawa's great eye (here aided by a later prominent collaborator with Asakazu Nakai), and Tadahi Hattori's musical score. The dramatic focus here finally become more compelling than in the weaker first half, and throughout the film this becomes clearer through maybe one of the best reasons to see the film, actress Setsuko Hara. Hara, who became one of the stock company members of Ozu's 50s films, is perfect here in the role, and even elevates some of the slower-going scenes in the film. She adds some dimension to what is at first a seemingly ignorant and content girl, and by the second half really adds well on her becoming aware of herself and what she's capable of. The film could've fared less without her, and it speaks well that even in a lesser film by the director he still casts some excellent talent.

But to say that it is a lesser film might be underscoring what is good about the picture, even memorable at times. Kurosawa still puts up some memorable shots or sequences of them, rather. Aside from the aforementioned riot scenes, there's a sequence of shots with the 'youth' early on running through the woods that makes for a nice precursor to other Kurosawa films with tightly edited, fluid shots. And one little scene where Yukie is in different poses when she hears that Noke will be leaving for a while (in the 1938 scene) that gave me a smile. And that such an imperfect and (occassionally) dated film, where not even the suggestion of an embrace or kiss can be shown (see cutaway to bag dropped on the floor in one scene), is nevertheless worth watching more-so than the best films by lesser directors says a lot of what Kurosawa can bring to the material.