Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast

Obayashi captures the erratic and turbulent but sincere energy of youth with this story of a group of rebellious boys who form an uneasy alliance to save a local girl from being sold into prostitution. The film breaks with the somber and tortured critiques of wartime Japan by previous generations to present a positive and anarchic vision of resistance. (Alexander Zahlten, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard)