Japan Society Film

05/22/2026

Hideaki Anno ( ) with Asumi Miwa and Tadanobu Asano on the set of LOVE & POP, 1997.

05/16/2026

“Soaked by typhonic showers throughout, THE YOUTH KILLER ends in fire and darkness, an infernal combination befitting this Dante-like saga.”

Screen Slate on tonight’s 16mm screening of Hasegawa’s THE YOUTH KILLER: japansoc.org/youthkiller

A grungy portrait of total nihilism, Kazuhiko Hasegawa's The Youth Killer (1976) opens innocently enough. A pair of aproned young people play outside, trading singsong rhymes and dancing about. This scene of childlike abandon offers the slimmest respite in what quickly becomes a long rainy day's jou...

05/14/2026

Kenichi Hagiwara and Fumi Dan taking a break from filming BITTERNESS OF YOUTH at the Toho Studios pool, 1974.

"Kazuhiko Hasegawa's Anarchic Ethos" closes out this weekend with rare 16mm imports of THE YOUTH KILLER and Tatsumi Kumashiro's BITTERNESS OF YOUTH: japansoc.org/hasegawa

05/13/2026

Kazuhiko Hasegawa first worked together with Kenji Sawada as the scriptwriter for THAT DEVILISH GUY (悪魔のようなあいつ), a 1975 TBS television series produced by the legendary Teruhiko Kuze and starring Sawada as Ryo Kamon, a rock singer and pr******te dying from a brain tumor. The series imagines Sawada’s character as the true culprit behind the legendary unsolved “300 million yen robbery” of 1968—the largest heist in Japanese history. The crime’s statute of limitations expired in 1975, with the television show being set six months before statute’s expiration.

Hasegawa’s screenwriting for both THAT DEVILISH GUY and BITTERNESS OF YOUTH earned him a reputation among cinephiles even before his directorial debut. Both projects were also soundtracked by Takayuki Inoue who would go on to score THE MAN WHO STOLE THE SUN.

05/12/2026

Considered one of the greatest Japanese films of all time, Tatsumi Kumashiro’s mainstream debut BITTERNESS OF YOUTH, starring Kenichi Hagiwara, captures a generation’s disillusionment at the waning edge of the student movements, as s*x and politics stagnate in a portrait of lost idealism rendered through Kumashiro’s dynamic, handheld style.

Screening 5/16 on 16mm.

05/10/2026

“Shoken [Kenichi Hagiwara] finally landed a role in a movie—and since I’d heard there were supposedly some risqué scenes involved—I headed to the movie theater feeling all flustered and nervous. And that is where I stumbled upon a magnificent film—one that, to this day, remains in my personal top three movies of all time. That was Shoken’s star vehicle BITTERNESS OF YOUTH (1974).”—Shinya Tsukamoto

Considered one of the greatest Japanese films of all time, Tatsumi Kumashiro’s Hasegawa-scripted social drama closes out “Kazuhiko Hasegawa’s Anarchic Ethos” this Sat 5/16 on imported 16mm: japansoc.org/bitterness

05/09/2026

Mieko Harada and Yutaka Mizutani for THE YOUTH KILLER in "Kinema Junpo", Oct. 1976.

Screening tonight and 5/16 on 16mm: japansoc.org/youthkiller

05/08/2026

"I met director Kazuhiko Hasegawa in the fall of 1976, when I was a freshman in college. Just before the theatrical release of his directorial debut THE YOUTH KILLER, he suddenly showed up in front of film students as they were leaving class to sell tickets for the film.”

With the launch of “Kazuhiko Hasegawa's Anarchic Ethos” today, we’re thrilled to share some words on the indomitable and unyielding Kazuhiko Hasegawa from filmmaker Gakuryu Ishii (AUGUST IN THE WATER, THE CRAZY FAMILY), a member of the Directors Company.

Read Ishii's full statement: japansoc.org/ishii-goji

05/06/2026

Derided by Nikkatsu’s union as “Trotskyist”, Yukihiro Sawada’s mordant critique of the police state—a perfect mix of Nikkatsu New Action and Roman Porno—follows a ruthless inspector in dark lenses hunting a former associate turned escaped sanatorium patient.

RETREAT THROUGH THE WET WASTELAND screens one time only this Saturday 5/9: japansoc.org/wetwasteland

05/06/2026

We’re heartbroken to hear that the great illustrator and artist Tony Stella has passed away. We were fortunate to call Tony a friend and collaborator. We worked together closely these past few years on posters for retrospectives on Hiroshi Shimizu, Mikio Naruse and Meiko Kaji. Tony was a kindred spirit when it came to his passion for Japanese film. His shared enthusiasm was unmatched and we were always so excited to do a yearly poster with him, always looking forward to the next one. A true master of his craft with an incomparable artistry—one that rarely exists today. R.I.P.

05/05/2026

"I cast my own six year old son to perform as the lead character during the childhood flashback recalled by the main character—so I would not forget about the fact that I was already old enough to get killed (by my own son). I put that strong feeling in the film so that my son would understand what I thought: “My son, you should not grow up into a guy who kills your father”. I could also say the feeling was something like a warning to myself, like “Hey you, Hasegawa, You should live your own life without getting murdered (by your own son)!”

📸: Kazuhiko Hasegawa with his son during the filming of YOUTH KILLER, circa 1976.

THE YOUTH KILLER screens twice on 16mm: japansoc.org/youthkiller