Rent Pigs and Battleships / Stolen Desire (1961)

Serious, gritty comedy - Pigs and Battleships / Stolen Desire review by AP

I thought I wasn't going to enjoy 'Pigs and Battleships' - I don't like people being nasty or cruel to each other when the setting is believably realistic, which this movie is. Set in a Japanese port, presumably in 1960 when the film was made, it presents the story of Kinta, a small-time hoodlum/yakuza, and his girlfriend, Haruko, who works in a small bar in the redlight district servicing American sailors. Kinta's gang have a small business looking after the pigs that they sell to the US Navy through a 'big boss' who is Chinese Mr Chen who has a deal going with Mr Sakiyama, a Japanese American. It's a world where everyone knows the 'price of everything and the value of nothing'. This beastliness, however, is not allowed to dominate the film: sure, it's there in everything - the violence, the sexual exploitation, the thieving, the debt, the rape, the murder, abortion - but we are allowed to laugh at these unhappy people as well, even if the laughter is uneasy. Kinta makes a mistake and his gang leader beats him up with reluctant determination; that leader thinks he has cancer, but Kinta stole the wrong X-ray and it's only an ulcer; a shoot up is something the yakuza are not very brave about, and the police clearly have an understanding with them. Haruko, Kinta's father and the gang leader's factory-worker brother are the moral heart of the film: each knows what is right, and Haruko escapes to her uncle in Kawasaki, where we hope a better life lies for her. The piece is energetic and emotive and I enjoyed it.

Prime cut Imamura! - Pigs and Battleships / Stolen Desire review by TE

Bursting with Imamura's unique brand of energy, 'Pigs and Battleships' is one of the world's most original gangster / urban underbelly movies.

The final cathartic action sequence in the city centre is an unforgettable blend of tragedy, comedy and crazy inventiveness.

At his best Imamura makes it all look so effortless as one memorable scene follows another with no let up.

As ever in his films, it is also a tale for grown-ups, with no inhibitions about sexuality or about poking fun at those in power.

'Stolen Desire' (Imamura's first film) has a more formal, classical feel, despite its brothel setting. Stock comic characters and incidents are given a fresh treatment, but it is a slight work compared to the later films.