Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968)
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
One of Oshima's most teasing and provocative collages, inspired by the student riots of '68 and contemporary 'youth culture' generally. The main thread running through it is the relationship between a passive and vaguely effeminate young man and an aggressive and vaguely masculine young woman. They meet when he steals books and she poses as a shop assistant who catches him in the act; they spend the rest of the movie trying to reach satisfactory orgasms with each other. Their route takes them through a dizzying mixture of fact and fiction, from an encounter with a real-life sexologist to involvement in a 'fringe' performance of a neo-primitive kabuki show. The logical connections are there, but they're deliberately submerged in a welter of contrasting moods, styles and lines of thought.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Producer: Masayuki Nakajima
Cast: Tadanori Yokoo, Rie Yokoyama, Moichi Tanabe, Tetsu Takahashi, Kei Sato, Fumio Watanabe full cast
Duration: 94 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
The ultimate 'Harry Potter' crib sheet
Our resident potter professor, Wally Hammond, offers the ultimate introduction to 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'
Bruno is here!
Sacha Baron Cohen hits the streets as Austria's premiere gay fashionista in 'Bruno'. Read our review of the film plus see the pics from our cover shoot
Lars von Trier's 'Antichrist': joke or masterpiece?
Dave Calhoun invites seven experts to watch Lars von Trier's latest and share their reactions
Classic Film Club: 'Smiles of a Summer Night'
Each week Tom Huddleston watches a classic film he's never seen before. The rules are simple: each film must be considered a masterpiece and each must be completely new to him.
Has Michael Mann lost it?
Adam Lee Davies mourns the passing of a major Hollywood talent as Michael Mann's 'Public Enemies' sees the great director running on empty
Why 'Ice Age 3' is really for adults
Tom Huddleston takes a look at a selection of films which bring adult problems to a pre-teen audience
Is this Summer 2009's best film?
The French filmmaker Claire Denis speaks to Dave Calhoun about her new film, '35 Shots of Rum', a tender portrait of a father-daughter relationship in Paris
Outdoor film screenings in London 2009
Derek Adams offers a guide to the best places to see films outside in London this summer
50 essential sci-fi films
With 'Star Trek' making serious waves, we thought it would be a perfect time to select 50 must-see sci-fi films











What do you think?
Post your review now