Category: Sexuality

Cruel story of Youth (1960) review

Oshima succeeds in dissecting in a very precise way how the Other, an Other marked by patriarchy and capitalism, is able to empty the youthful subject of his ideals and dreams as well as how the rebellious protest of certain youthful subjects is, in many cases, an affirmation of the very dynamic that underpins the functioning of the Other.

Gushing Prayer: A 15-Year-Old Prostitute (1971) review

“Not only does Adachi frame the societal Other as the cause of the lost state of youth and the youth’s suicidal response, but Adachi also formulates, in a truly confronting way, his hope for this lost youth to find desire in creating a different Other for tomorrow.”

Stay (2018) review

A great indie romance film that underlines the very importance for subjects to establish inter-subjective (romantic) relationships.

Sakura (2020) review [Japannual 2020]

“A great narrative that does not only show that family happiness is but a semblance – behind the smiles hides pain and sadness – but also the very fact that the subject can only grasp his present subjective state by narrativizing (and, in many cases idealize) his past.”

Be My Baby (2013) review

While the narrative has subtle comical flair, “Be My Baby” does not fail to confront the spectator with the two most important obstacles to romantic happiness: the refusal to take one’s own and the other’s subjective position into account and the unquenchable power of sexual desire.

Understanding ‘Cuties’ from a psychoanalytical perspective

“Even though I stated above that Amy’s identification with the hypersexualized image of femininity needs to be understood as a refusal, I think that it is even more correct to understand her behaviour as an acting-out directed to the Islamic Other.”