is a 1970 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 ...

written and directed by

Kaneto Shindō was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include ''Children of Hiroshima'', ''The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', ''Kuroneko'' and ' ...

. It is based on the true story of spree killer

Norio Nagayama was a Japanese spree killer and novelist. Biography Nagayama was born in Abashiri, Hokkaido and grew up with divorced parents. He moved to Tokyo in 1965 and, while working in Tokyo's Shibuya district, witnessed the Zama and Shibuya shootings. ...

Plot

Michio Yamada, a recent school graduate from

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, is sent to

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 ...

to work as a fruit packer in a department store as part of a government programme. One participant after another quits, and so does Yamada. He drops out of various jobs, is caught while secretly trying to board a ship to the U.S., and is rejected when he volunteers for military service. Later, he kills two guardsmen with a gun which he stole from a house on an American base. Halfway into the film, a flashback sequence tells of Yamada's poor upbringing as the seventh child of eight of a submissive woman and her irresponsible husband. As a young boy, he is forced to witness the rape of his older sister, who suffers a trauma and is sent to a mental institution, and the starving of two other sisters in their attempt to feed the youngest siblings. Back in the present, Yamada kills two taxi drivers and steals their money. He has an affair with a young prostitute and later with a girl who frequently visits the night club where he works at. When his girlfriend drugs a customer and takes his money, she is severely beaten by a yakuza gang. Yamada in return confronts the gang's leader with his gun and beats him up. After a failed burglary, Yamada is arrested by the police.

Cast

* Daijiro Harada as Michio Yamada * Nobuko Otowa as Take Yamada, Michio's mother * Keiko Torii as Sakie Hayashi *

Kiwako Taichi was a Japanese film actress. She appeared in 20 films between 1967 and 1985. Biography Kiwako Taichi was born in Tokyo on 2 December 1943. She graduated Shoin Junior and Senior High School and, after training in the Haiyuza Theatre Company, ...

as Tomoko, the prostitute *

Kei Satō was a Japanese character actor and narrator. He is known for his work with Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima, and for several films with Kaneto Shindo, such as '' Onibaba'' and ''Kuroneko''. He won the best actor award from ''Kinema Junpo ...

as Detective *

Rokkō Toura was a Japanese stage and film actor active from 1960 to 1993.「個性光る、名脇役」　Asahi Shimbun読売新聞1993 March 26 朝刊31面 He is mostly associated with the films of director Nagisa Ōshima. Biography Toura was born Mutsuhi ...

as Teacher Gondo * Daigo Kusano as Hanjiro Yamada *

Junkichi Orimoto was a Japanese actor. Orimoto often worked with Kinji Fukasaku and Sadao Nakajima. He started his acting career at the Shinkyō theatre company in 1949. His first film appearance was in the 1952 film ''Yamabiko Gakkō'' directed by Tadashi Imai. ...

as Owner of rice store *

Sanae Takasugi was a Japanese film and television actress. She starred in over 80 films, directed by notable filmmakers like Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, and Keisuke Kinoshita. Career Born in Asakusa, Tokyo, Takasugi graduated at Rissho High Sc ...

as Tomoko's aunt

Release

''Live Today, Die Tomorrow!'' was released in Japan on October 31, 1970, where it was distributed by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

Reception

The film won the Golden Prize at the

7th Moscow International Film Festival The 7th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 20 July to 3 August 1971. The Golden Prizes were awarded to the Italian film ''Confessions of a Police Captain'' directed by Damiano Damiani, the Japanese film ''Live Today, Die Tomorrow!'' ...

in 1971. In

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

magazine's list of the 10 best Japanese films of the year, ''Live Today, Die Tomorrow!'' reached #10 in 1970. In his review for the

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

, reviewer J.R. Jones compared ''Live Today, Die Tomorrow!'' with

Nagisa Ōshima was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. One of the foremost directors within the Japanese New Wave, his films include ''In the Realm of the Senses'' (1976), a sexually explicit film set in 1930s Japan, and ''Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence' ...

's earlier juvenile delinquency dramas for their "inherent critique of postwar Japanese society".

References

External links