The House of Wooden Blocks (1968)

Director
Yasuzô Masumura

Main cast
Ayako Wakao; Ken Ogata; Kayo Matsuo; Eiko Azusa; Yoko Namikawa

Genres
Drama

Description
Masumura's 40th film, for which he collaborated on the script, shows plot irrationality perhaps due to the newspaper serial original, perhaps to the adolescent behavior he portrays. The extremes of self-sacrifice in some of the characters such as Hisayo and Sugiura contrast too sharply with the animal brutality of Sasabayashi and Namie, and the result is more caricature than realism. The harsh selfishness of Ichirō and the abrupt techniques used to present his interior thoughts (double exposure of a naked Yuri as he undresses her with his eyes) prevent him in the end from winning audience sympathy. Part of a late sixties trend toward adolescent sexuality subject matter.


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