Watch Young Thugs: Innocent Blood For Free

Wow! Such a good movie.

The Worst Film Ever

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

20 movies into his oeuvre and I still never know what to expect. Miike makes a sentimental nostalgia flick? REALLY? According to the ArtsMagic DVD edition summary, this movie is loosely autobiographical, and set in Miike's place of origin. This could explain the warm quality and lighthearted sentiment of the film. I also think that some of it was some rather good decision making on his part because it's a coming of age story that seeks optimism beyond the perverse. However, that does make the trademark violence and death stick out a little awkwardly in this particular one.Three friends graduate school after playing a prank on and robbing their teacher. One, the fire-hearted Riichi, basically drives the drama as a young man who doesn't fully understand himself and expresses himself with violence and a domineering attitude. After he breaks up with his long-time girlfriend, the people who love and care for Riichi have to grow up and take care of themselves while looking out for Riichi, who spirals through depression and passivity as he is finally confronted with life in the real world.This movie has some very unique use of music that I think is what really pulls it together. I also like how Riichi's violence is considered the optimistic and productive side of growing up as opposed to his reticence. Such a reversal of explicit content to reflect conservative values would later be put to an extremely higher level in the much more famous (and much better done) Visitor Q.--PolarisDiB

I have just received both Young Thugs Innocent Blood and Young Thugs Nostalgia, i have just watched Innocent Blood and have yet to see Nostalgia so that film may blow this one out of the water! hahaha! But yeah, a brilliant film, it's full of things of interest and is of the more 'nice' films that Miike does, like DOA2. It's a really warm film with some really nice subtle cinematography that breathes life into the images that Miike constructs. It has a really nice golden colour through out which isn't too over the top that it gets in the way but clear enough as to explain the film on a purely colour basis, this is a film of memory and childhood, it really doesn't deserve the 18 rating it has, it's insane that it has that to be honest! The one thing i'd say is a little off putting, which is the music, it's VERY cheesy and genetic and pulls the film down in respects, but on the other hand it very much fits in with the innocence of the whole movie.It's a movie that, although very 'easy' and innocent, it has a lot of depth and aspects of interest such as the construction of the film and how it is told, the editing, the characters, and how it relates to other films by the director. I'd really really really recommend this title to anyone who doesn't just take Miike as a place to be horrified, he's never been about exploitation and hey, this is pretty far away from that sort of thing.

Despite the title and the mean-looking cover art, Young Thugs: Innocent Blood is one of Miike's gentlest and sweetest films. That's not to say that it is entirely free of nastiness. The protagonists spend a lot of their free time getting into violent brawls. But the story is one of friendship and romance. The film follows four friends, three guys and a girl, as they exit high school. As time goes on, and as new romantic relationships arise, the friends grow apart. It's kind of like Take Care of My Cat, except for every once in a while someone gets beaten with an aluminum baseball bat. It's actually quite touching, and frequently very funny. The climactic event in the film is extremely goofy in a way that only Miike could accomplish – it's not quite on the level as the end of Dead or Alive 1, but it's something you're guaranteed not to see outside of this man's filmography.

Having seen over 20 Miike films, I expected "Kishiwada shonen gurentai: Chikemuri junjo-hen" (or, as the American release is called, "Young Thugs: Innocent Blood") to be a good movie, but I didn't expect it to be this great! From beginning to end this film kept me involved, laughing at the many hilarious scenes and empathizing at the many dramatic scenes. Unlike many Miike films, this movie carries with it a sense of innocence. Sure, it has some outrageous violence, but it is all in fun, like kids playing. There is no nudity or sexual misconduct (i.e. "Visitor Q" or "Ichi the Killer"), just a pure heartfelt story of young adults growing up (or refusing to grow up). Now that this movie is easily available (thanks to the great folks at ArtsMagicDVD), I would have expected more votes and reviews on here by now. I definitely recommend this film for Miike fans and haters alike. Just a great movie all around.