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Boy

Play trailer Poster for Boy 1970 1h 36m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 90% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Traveling from one Japanese urban center to the next, a family of grifters has developed a scheme to swindle gullible drivers out of their money. The father (Fumio Watanabe) convinces his young son (Tetsuo Abe) to run into the sides of cars on the street, tricking the drivers into thinking they've just hit a child. By threatening police involvement, the father gets his marks to pay him off, but the boy is increasingly resentful of his line of work.

Critics Reviews

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Don Druker Chicago Reader 10/16/2014
Oshima, the Japanese filmmaker most often compared with Godard, treats the material in a matter-of-fact manner that serves to heighten the dramatic impact and to create one of the most interesting films about children ever made. Go to Full Review
Budd Wilkins Slant Magazine 01/15/2014
3.5/4
Nagisa Oshima and screenwriter Tsutomu Tamura encourage empathy without requiring emotionalism. Go to Full Review
Keith Uhlich Time Out 01/14/2014
5/5
Happiness and contentment are not in the cards for Toshio, and shima never sentimentalizes his existence nor lets him off the hook for his crimes. But still we feel, deeply and profoundly, for this lost soul. Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 06/28/2017
B+
An acerbic coming-of-age tale about a family of con artists faking car accidents and blackmailing the drivers to pay them off. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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s r @ScottR 06/18/2017 Sad, but a well made film. A great time capsule to boot. See more Frances H 06/11/2017 A grim depressingly done view of the lower classes and street people in 1960s Japan told in a starkly realistic way, based on a true story. The focus is a family of drifting scam artists who make use of their child in a dangerous way that leaves him open to injury, pretending to be hit by cars, so that they can collect cash from the drivers for not going to the police. This shows what happens to children in cases where their is no social safety net for the maintenance of families, and no one standing guard over children. It is a stark reminder today of what children will be exposed to in a time when in this country, the government is intent on cutting that safety net that we have now away. See more 04/29/2016 Certainly one of the best of all Japanese films; quite possibly one of the best films ever made. See more 12/28/2014 ???? ?????????????????????? ???????????????????? See more bill t 12/23/2014 Plenty interesting tale about a despicable family who get by by conning motorists when they think they've hit them! The mother's no good and the father's awful. Lots of rather surprising topics coming out of Japan in 1969! Oshima has a lot of tricks (and film stock!) up his sleeves, so this was an interesting watch. See more 08/20/2014 Oshima's Boy feels a bit like a slap in the face. Here we see, from the boy's point of view, a few months in his life. His Dad and Stepmom have trained him to jump out in front of cars so they can demand money from the unlucky drivers. He may really get hurt upon occasion. He often escapes to wander on his own and perhaps into a fantasy land filled with people from outer space. He's only 10. Oshima fills the frame with geometrical shapes and often pushes the boy to the edges. Some shots feel ugly and unbalanced but others are beautiful in their way. The family travels all around Japan. We worry about the boy and his younger brother (only 3) - how will they turn out. Possibly not good. Very disconcerting as a film (and worth your time). See more Read all reviews
Boy

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Movie Info

Synopsis Traveling from one Japanese urban center to the next, a family of grifters has developed a scheme to swindle gullible drivers out of their money. The father (Fumio Watanabe) convinces his young son (Tetsuo Abe) to run into the sides of cars on the street, tricking the drivers into thinking they've just hit a child. By threatening police involvement, the father gets his marks to pay him off, but the boy is increasingly resentful of his line of work.
Director
Nagisa Ôshima
Producer
Masayuki Nakajima, Takuji Yamaguchi
Screenwriter
Masataka Hara, Nagisa Ôshima, Mamoru Sasaki, Takeshi Tamura
Distributor
Grove Press
Production Co
Sozosha, Art Theatre Guild
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 9, 1970, Wide
Runtime
1h 36m
Sound Mix
Mono