Buta To Gunkan (aka Pigs And Battleships) (1961)

In a small fishing village in post war Japan which is now a port for the United States Navy, a petty thug (Hiroyuki Nagato) and a bar girl (Jitsuko Yoshimura), who's hopelessly in love with him, attempt to fulfill their aspirations in a changing Japan. He wants to be a Yakuza big shot and she just wants to get married, have him work in a factory and settle down to domestic life. Directed by Shohei Imamura, the film could safely be described as a black comedy, an often satirical look at the local Yakuza as well as the corruption of traditional Japanese life (more specifically its women) by the influence of the American presence in Japan. The film is hampered by its leading characters. Nagato's gangster wannabe is incredibly dumb or to be more generous, naive and his appeal to Yoshimura is lost to us which makes her come across as a clinging, nagging girlfriend. One can barely summon up much compassion for their situation which seems of their own making. Imamura's portrayal of Americans as big, dumb brutes are a caricature but perhaps justifiable retaliation for Hollywood's stereotypical portrayals of Japanese though out the decades. Still, it's eminently watchable and Imamura manages to whip up an imaginative finale. The playful score is by Toshiro Mayuzumi. With Tetsuro Tamba (Tiger Tanaka from YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE) and the prolific Eijiro Tono who I swear pops up in every other Japanese film I see.