Pigs and Battleships

A dazzling, unruly portrait of postwar Japan, Pigs and Battleships details, with escalating absurdity, the desperate power struggles between small-time gangsters in the port town of Yokosuka. Shot in gorgeously composed, bustling CinemaScope, the film follows a young couple as they try to navigate Yokosuka’s corrupt businessmen, chimpira, and their own unsure future together. With its breakneck pacing and constantly inventive cinematography, this film marked Shohei Imamura as a major voice in Japanese cinema. (Criterion)