Audience Member
Subtle exploration of a woman's path to purpose in life amid political and personal turmoil. Has all the hallmarks of a great Kurosawa movie: a deeply humanist attitude, well-written characters, great acting and camera work. Can feel a bit slow-paced to modern audiences.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
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william d
Not one of Kurosawa's best. Rather than tell a good and coherent story the movie's true purpose seems to be to give the impression that the opposition to Japanese militarism in the 1930s was more dedicated and widespread than it actually was.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
A very moving story about the huge price one has to pay -- not just in Japan, incidentally -- for resisting the fever of nationalism and imperialism. What destroyed these young lives was not simply an authoritarian military/corporate regime in 1930s/1940s Japan, but mob psychology, which supported Japan's imperialist spree and ostracized those who were out of step. Some say that the director, Akira Kurosawa, made the movie to show that there was resistance to the imperialist regime and thus salvage Japanese honor in the postwar period, showing that the country was not all bad. But I find that explanation unconvincing; it is more an indictment of the human weakness of conforming.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
nick s
This was the first film directed after II World War by Akira Kurosawa, just 1 year after the surrender of Japan and atomic bombings. However, we can see how fast the situation and opinions are changing. Japan was still in ruins, while we already see pacifist leftist films like No Regrets for Our Youth showing militarists in a very negative light. Just a year ago the military power was still sending people to inevitable death. And then Kurosawa comes up with such story about young people who make a tremendous difference in the life of the whole country, being ready to sacrifice their youth for the bright future.
No Regrets of Our Youth shows the conflict between young people of different type and background. Noge (Susuma Fujita) and Itokawa (Akitake Kono) study in the University together when the Takigawa incident in 1933 occurs and Japan intervenes China. A leftist Noge who has a strong wish to take part in the political life of the country realized it is time to act and hope against the consequences of this incident. He leaves the school and attempts to build the bonds among young people to confront militarism. Noge is a real intelligent who cares for both country and people living there, while Itokawa is a guy from the working class. Initially, he has the intention to join his friend in this fight. But he later decides he can't do that as his mother has been living her life to let him study and become a decent man. Itokawa has to take into consideration his mother felt, and their paths with Noge split. At the same time, Noge develops a rift between him and his family. His family doesn't understand him, and he is forced to sacrifice not only position in the school for this fight but also relationships with the family.
Later, Noge is arrested for being involved into espionage (this story is based on the personality of Hotsumi Ozaki who assisted Soviet spy Richard Zorge during the World War), and Itokawa becomes a state prosecutor. He is married and he lives for his family and mother. We cannot blame him for anything, it is just a different type who is not ready to join this political fight. But this is the film where Kurosawa praises Noge's attitude, as well as Yukie (played by Setsuko Hara).
A daughter of a professor, Yukie is initially unable to choose between Noge and Itokawa. She blames childishly Noge for being so much into politics but ends up having an affair with him. His talks and hopes were incendiary and strong to impress her for the rest of life. Itokawa seems to be boring for her. After a few years, she meets Noge again and they start seeing each other. She knows she will have to sacrifice her youth to live with him, but this is something she is looking for. After the arrest of Noge, she makes another sacrifice going to the village of his parents and living with them being accused wife of spy by local villagers.
Kurosawa is merely impressed by these strong and young people who change the future of all us. He is showing in the screen, despite many sacrifices the future generations will learn to respect those who had sacrificed everything to fight, with no regrets for their youth. At the end of the film the war is over. Now we see Yukie becoming a local heroine in the village where everybody used to hate her. The minds of people change fast, according to politics. And No Regret to Our Youth is about the brave people who are not afraid of fighting military doctrine and radical right ideas taking the peoples into oblivion.
One of the early features of Kurosawa is marked with a great performance of actors and politically important story. Yet he has elaborated his filmmaking style in No Regrets for Our Youth. At this point, he was on the way to establish himself as world-acclaimed director.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Some movies have a way of capturing time passage that can weaken the viewer at the knees, feeling a merciless victim to time, change, life and death. There's a scene between Yukie and Itokawa meeting up in Tokyo after not seeing each other for three years - it's been eight years since we first met them - and the way he talks about the past with the music, framing them against a timeless cityscape, their postures simple and still, hers shamed... It's all such a memoir feeling.
Yukie pacing back and for day after day outside of Noge's is so beautifully staged and captured. Great set and lighting to favor weather changes - a rainy day, windy day, and sunny day when Noge finally bumps into her.
Yukie is hard to read, a sequence of events between her and Noge reveals her to be bipolar. Things he may enjoy, like a worm or a movie, may cause her sudden out years of sadness.
There's a moment Yukie struggles to carry a bail of hay after we've seen a montage of a disapproving community that considers anyone from Noge's family to be a traitor... Kurosawa uses a unique method of something like an offscreen studio audience laughing at her struggle. "Don't forget the struggle of freedom" we hear Yukie's father say amidst a montage of voice overs as she tirelessly sows.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Made just one year after WWII ended, Kurosawa's 'No Regrets For Our Youth' explores the lesser-known part of Japan that protested against rising militarism in the 1930's, as well as acknowledges Japan's mistake for having chosen a path that led to such a devastating war, and for that it's a fascinating and important film. It also has an interesting story of a love triangle in which a young woman (Yukie Yagihara, played by Setsuko Hara) is pursued by two young men (Noge and Itokawa), whose personalities are established in the film's opening scene. They're all crossing a creek on stepping stones, and she needs help at the end. Both offer their hands. Noge then strides over confidently and picks her up, carrying her across with her legs flapping, to the annoyance of the conservative Itokawa. They all then run off up a hill together, carefree youth that they are.
However, it's 1933, and with Japan's militarism on the rise, their world is about to change. The students protest for freedom, but their movement is crushed, and they must decide whether to continue on with it or conform. Itokawa chooses the latter path; Noge the former. The safe route for Yukie is with Itokawa, but she's drawn to Noge. As she puts to Itokawa while walking with him at night in a fantastic scene, "If I follow you, my life will be peaceful. But...if I may say so...it'll be boring. If I follow him [Noge] something dazzling will await me. My life will be stormy. It terrifies me and fascinates me."
Setsuko Hara showed outstanding range in the film, and turned in a great performance. As Noge is possibly leaving her for years, or forever, Kurosawa shows her standing behind a door, torn by rising emotions. She simply can't remain on a conventional path, as she says to her father "Now I feel my life is meaningless - I want to go out into the world and see what it's like to live." She later will have several great scenes on her in-laws' farm, enduring backbreaking labor planting rice, and having to resolutely stand up to people there who insult and shame her for her association with Noge. Kurosawa is a master at letting his actors wordlessly communicate with their faces, and does so brilliantly in a scene when various villagers stare at her. Through it all, she knows that she chose wisely, and recalling Noge's words "No regrets in my life, no regrets whatsoever" gives her strength.
Indeed she has no regrets, and this is the title of the film, but it's clear that Kurosawa has regrets for his country's actions, which is the film's irony. It's stirring at the end with messages of individuality and freedom, which are powerful but feel a little over the top, possibly the reflecting script alterations Kurosawa was not happy with, or the oversight and influence of the occupation American censors. I believe a good portion of it, however, was Kurosawa trying to process the shame and humiliation of the war, find something positive, and point to the future, one in which there is a need to at least sometimes think as individuals in order to remain free. One year after the war, Kurosawa essentially admits the country was wrong, something that Japanese officials would struggle with in various forms for decades afterwards.
"I look forward to seeing more Noge's in the future, rising from this assembly of young, hopeful students," says the professor at the end, the pain and shame on a couple of faces in the crowd. "You must fight for freedom, and there will be torture and sacrifice in the struggle," he had told Yukie earlier. Artistically these messages feel a bit forced, and yet, we have to admire Kurosawa's courage, and are grateful that such an excellent filmmaker gave us this window into the Japanese psyche in 1946.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
Full Review
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