Boy

Released Apr 9, 1970

1h 36m

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

6 Reviews

89%

Audience Score

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.

Read More

Read Less

Don Druker

Chicago Reader

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.

Oct 16, 2014

Full Review

Budd Wilkins

Slant Magazine

Nagisa Oshima and screenwriter Tsutomu Tamura encourage empathy without requiring emotionalism.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jan 15, 2014

Full Review

Keith Uhlich

Time Out

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.

Rated: 5/5

Jan 14, 2014

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

An acerbic coming-of-age tale about a family of con artists faking car accidents and blackmailing the drivers to pay them off.

Rated: B+

Jun 28, 2017

Full Review

Read all reviews

s r

Sad, but a well made film. A great time capsule to boot.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Frances H

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.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

06/25/17

Full Review

Audience Member

Certainly one of the best of all Japanese films; quite possibly one of the best films ever made.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

???? ?????????????????????? ????????????????????

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

bill t

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.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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).

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Nagisa Ôshima

Director

Fumio Watanabe

The father

Tetsuo Abe

The Boy

Akiko Koyama

The stepmother

Tsuyoshi Kinoshita

The little brother

Masataka Hara

Writer

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

83%

89%

Death by Hanging

100%

86%

Double Suicide

73%

77%

Dodes 'Ka-Den

75%

63%

Joe

89%

88%

Midnight Cowboy

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

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
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