The Age of Our Own (1959)

This controversial film by director Koreyoshi Kurahara is based on a story by Nobel Prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe, adapted by Yoshio Shirasaka, a prolific writer who scripted masterpieces under every major Japanese production company (including Yasuzo Masumura's 1958 film Giants and Toys at Daiei studios). A Japanese college student attempting to study abroad in France to escape his daily troubles is met with endless frustration and ultimately forced to live an aimless life of disillusionment. Among Nikkatsu's most political films, The Age of Our Own implicitly reveals a complex reaction to the anti-Anpo struggle and its contexts.