Endless Desire

Once again starting from something of a ‘B’ movie premise, with his second feature Imamura crafts what one might classify as a noir, but one which in true Imamura style is far more interested in the inter-personal dramas of its vast ensemble than sticking to conventional genre plotting.

Unfolding in claustrophobic back-alleys, Imamura’s tale of a makeshift gang of war veterans reuniting to recover an illicit treasure ten years on, doubles as both an unflinching study of the depths of human greed but also a profoundly honest reckoning with the uncomfortable realities of post-war life.

Bursting with the visual assurance that would come to define his early work, and featuring a standout cast including Misako Watanabe (Kwaidan, 1964), Imamura’s second feature throws his enduring fascination with the desires that drive human behaviour into even starker relief than his debut, as he combines propulsive genre storytelling with acute social observation to remarkable effect.

Endless Desire (果しなき欲望), dir. Shōhei Imamura, Japan 1958, Japanese with English subtitles, 100 min.