, also known as ''The Inferno of First Love'' and ''Nanami, First Love'', is a 1968 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Susumu Hani is a Japanese film director, and one of the most prominent representatives of the 1960s Japanese New Wave. Born in Tokyo, he has directed both documentaries and feature films. He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his first ...

. It was co-scripted by Hani and Shūji Terayama. The film competed for the Golden Bear award at the

18th Berlin International Film Festival The 18th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1968. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Swedish film ''Ole dole doff'' directed by Jan Troell. Jury The following people were announced as being on the jury for ...

in 1968.

Plot

Nanami, a young nude dancer, and her friend Shun, who is still a virgin, rent a room in a love hotel. He isn't able to make love to her, but she is understanding about it. They both reflect on their past; Nanami came from

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and started working as a dancer because her former job didn't pay enough, Shun was left by his mother as a child and now works as a goldsmith in his stepfather's workshop. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Shun was and is still being repeatedly sexually abused by his stepfather. A customer of Nanami, Ankokuji, talks her into participating in erotic photo shootings with other models, which are also attended by members of the red light district and the yakuza. Shun, who witnessed the photo shootings and is jealous of Ankokuji, confronts him and Nanami. Ankokuji explains his interest in Nanami with his loveless marriage, but when Nanami later sees him with his seemingly harmonic family, she turns away from him in disappointment. Nanami and Shun continue seeing each other and make another appointment in the love hotel. On his way to the hotel, Shun is stopped by Ankokuji's former red light district associates, who try to press him into telling them Nanami's whereabouts. Shun flees and is fatally hit by a car when he crosses the street. Nanami, who waits for Shun in the hotel apartment, hears the voices from the street, opens the window and sees Shun's body surrounded by passers-by.

Cast

* Kuniko Ishii – Chiaki Nanami * Akio Takahashi – Shun * Haruo Asanu – Algebra * Ichirō Kimura – Psychiatrist *

Kazuo Kimura ; born 28 June 1909) was a Japanese high jumper who won silver medals at the 1927, 1930 and 1934 Far Eastern Championship Games, losing to Simeon Toribio on all occasions. He placed sixth at the 1928 Events January * January – B ...

– Doctor * Kōji Mitsui – Mr. Otagaki, Shun's stepfather (although the role is credited to the popular actor

Kōji Mitsui was a Japanese movie, TV, and stage actor. He appeared in more than 150 films from 1925 to 1975, including 29 of ''Kinema Junpo''’s annual Top-10 winners and three of its 10 best Japanese films of all time. In 2000 the magazine named him one o ...

(三井弘次) in many English-language reference works, the character is portrayed by a different actor whose name's

Kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

characters (満井幸治) also translate to "Kōji Mitsui," and whose only film credit is this role.) * Kazuko Fukuda – Mrs. Otagaki, Shun's stepmother * Misako Miyato – Mother * Minoru Yuasa – Ankokuji * Kimiko Nakamura – Ankokuji's wife

Release

''Nanami: The Inferno of First Love'' grossed over $1 million in Japan. The film was originally released in the United States with 20 minutes cut.

Reception

Many film scholars consider this work to be one of Hani's major achievements, while others judge the film to be commercial and exploitive. In ''A Hundred Years of Japanese Film'', film historian Donald Richie called it "one of the seminal films of the sixties". In 2012, filmmaker Ashim Ahluwalia included the film in his personal top ten (for The Sight & Sound Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time poll), writing: "''Nanami: Inferno of First Love'' delivers emerging adolescent sexuality and lyrical debauchery as only the

Japanese New Wave The is a group of loosely-connected Japanese filmmakers during the late 1950s and into the 1970s. Although they did not make up a coherent movement, these artists shared a rejection of traditions and conventions of classical Japanese cinema in ...

can. Do not accept imitations!"

References

Bibliography

External links

* * * * {{Susumu Hani 1968 films 1968 drama films Japanese erotic drama films Films directed by Susumu Hani 1960s Japanese-language films 1960s erotic drama films 1960s Japanese films