Pigs and Battleships (Buta to gunkan) (Hogs and Warships)

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Scott R @ScottR 2d NYT 1000 films. An important story about Japan and the impact of the GIs in post WW2 culture bringing their money and the Japanese trying to get what they can with prostitution and other things. This one focused on food scraps they would then feed to pigs they would get from the military. The pigs would then be sold back to the military and make lots of money. This involved corruption and back room deals. All this was framed around a young couple trying to survive but yet having subtle nuances of character that made them less likable. Saw on tubi. See more 05/16/2017 Shohei Imamura's gleefully original gangster flick charts the burgeoning immaturity of a young hoodlum in US-occupied postwar Japan. The film contrasts simplistic, sarcastic comedy with evocative small-time tragedy, through a quick-fire episodic structure that lets narrative days drop dead in cinematic minutes. Postwar tensions and the bizarre mutually exploitative relationships between the Japanese and their occupiers make for eye-opening background music. But ultimately, the historical context takes a back seat to pig stampedes, swirling rape sequences and desperate liaisons, as Imamura invites us to take a tragicomic look at the lower end of the war's collateral damage scale. The result is a touching, truly unique portrait of a torn working class, exhibited through a Western-inspired plot which is astutely balanced in terms of surprise and convention and universally accessible and engaging for any viewer. See more 01/20/2016 Imamura's films are hard to predict; from my limited exposure to him, it seems that he doesn't use genre (or formula) as a starting place for his films. Pigs and Battleships was his first big hit and it is a savage comedic look at a post-war Japanese seaside town located adjacent to an American naval base (Yokosuka). We follow an odd gang of chimpira (junior yakuza) who arrange a deal with a Japanese-American from Hawaii to buy food scraps from the base to support a pig farm (since pork prices are rising). The unlucky loser among this bunch, Kinta, has a girlfriend who wishes to break away from the town and its symbiotic relationship with the Americans. I say symbiotic instead of parasitic because Imamura is clear that it is the Americans that are exploiting and corrupting the Japanese (who may be willing participants, he suggests); in fact, the Americans are uniformly treated as brutal lugs here, seen mostly in brothels. Gradually the film focuses in on Kinta and Haruko and their fate. We hope they escape - but in an Imamura film, you never can be sure. See more 05/31/2014 Lots of Pigs. Light on Battleships. See more 03/21/2014 I very comical yet dramatic film about lower class Japanese and the Yakuza after World War II. This film is very entertaining. I highly recommend it. See more 10/16/2012 The most energetic film I've seen in quite a long time, combining a quite specific place and time with brash, vivid characters. See more Read all reviews

Pigs and Battleships (Buta to gunkan) (Hogs and Warships)

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