Underplayed Gems

The Gate of Youth (1981)

The Gate of Youth poster
Original title
青春の門
Directed by
Koreyoshi Kurahara, Kinji Fukasaku
Genre
drama film
Country
Japan
Runtime
2h 20m
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 4 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A young man named Shinsuke Ibuki tries to find his way in post-war Japan. The story follows his struggles with family and identity as he grows up.

dramaticemotionalcoming-of-agebittersweetslow-pacedearnestnostalgicmelancholic

What happens

The Gate of Youth (Japanese: 青春の門, Hepburn: Seishun no mon) is a 1981 Japanese drama film co-directed by Kinji Fukasaku and Koreyoshi Kurahara. A Kurahara-directed sequel titled Seishun no mon: Jiritsu hen (青春の門 自立篇, lit. The Gate of Youth: Part 2) was released in 1982. Both films are based on a story by Hiroyuki Itsuki that was originally serialized in the magazine Shūkan Gendai from 1969–70 before being picked up by Kodansha and published as a series of novels (continuing publication intermittently until 1994, and again in 2017 after a 23-year hiatus). The same story inspired a 1975 film of the same name, which itself received a 1977 sequel (also titled Seishun no mon: Jiritsu hen), as well as three separate television productions in 1976-77 (TBS), 1991 (TV Tokyo), and 2005 (TBS). The Gate of Youth stars Kōichi Satō (in his feature film debut) as protagonist Shinsuke Ibuki, in addition to Bunta Sugawara, Keiko Matsuzaka, Kaoru Sugita (also her feature film debut) and Tomisaburo Wakayama. Toei theatrically released the film on January 15, 1981, in Japan. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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