The decade of the 1960s encompassed a New Wave of films whose makerswere rebels, challenging cinematic traditions and the culture at large. The films ofthe New Wave in Japan have, until now, been largely overlooked. Eros plus Massacre(taking its title from a 1969 Yoshida Yoshishige film) is the first major studydevoted to the examination and explanation of Japanese New Wave film.Desser organizes his volume around the defining motifs of the NewWave. Chapters examine in depth such themes as youth, identity, sexuality, andwomen, as they are revealed in the Japanese film of the sixties. Desser's researchin Japanese film archives, his interviews with major figures of the movement, andhis keen insight into Japanese culture combine to offer a solid and balancedanalysis of films by Oshima, Shinoda, Imamura, Yoshida, Suzuki, andothers.
