***One of the best 150 films I have ever seen.***

“These youngsters are my age”, is the first thing that came to my mind. As the opening sequence has the protagonist speaking directly to us, embodying an eager sense of freedom devoid of impositions so long set by society and looking for a release after so much time, I identified. Three scenes later after the furious opening credits, this same young man is seen running over a railway in an endless reverse-moving tracking shot constantly shifting from left to right with the soundtrack playing loud. The film ends similarly, but with him screaming, also over a railroad, but this final shot is more self-controlled, as his strength gradually weakens. My…

Cinema in stutter. Bent. Folded. Kicked to the sea. A fuck you to some patterns. To your beloved three acts story, or the separating thick three walls. One of the character said he could chew words properly by talking in stutter. So does this film. Scattered and stuttered. Play it out loud. Chew every scene. And the next scene. The next lie. Lie of lies.

The surrealism of time that flies too fast, too evil and with no mercy. Chew them all properly, by feeling the mystical feelings from ethereal sounds of screams and moans. The rebel yells, punk rock music and oriental touches. Watch the angst and the scare and the vulgar acts of movements. The breaking downs and…

I love this film with all my heart, so here is an embarrassing story related to a screening of Throw Away Your Books Rally In The Streets that I had a few years back.

So it was spring break at my university but the campus was still open for students but it was mostly dead quiet. Me and my friend were film students so we took advantage of the emptiness and decided to screen a selection of films in a huge lecture theatre perfect for watching films in. 

One day, two of us decided to screen Throw Away Your Books. We turned up the volume to max and switched off the lights, and lied down on the seats (because they are…

I’m not going to lie, I watched this because the title seemed cool. In hindsight I wish I had read up on some context first...

Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets is the ultimate rebellious film. Any and every convention (political, social, cinematic) is not only ignored, but purposefully and gloriously ripped to shreds. The narrative itself is hard to explain seeing as though it jumps from being an anti-capitalistic adrenaline rush to a Freudian fever dream, but a few things remain constant. The music is sensational and constantly fills each scene with momentous energy, additionally the film is constantly and creatively breaking the fourth wall, whether that means the characters speak directly to the camera about the…

So, it's time to throw away your indoctrinated way of thinking, and head into the world of experimental cinema. Beginning with a black screen and ending with a white screen, Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets is the probable outcome of what a movie would be like if Nagisa Ōshima and Kenneth Anger co-directed one. It's a raw psychedelic super political trip back to socialistic naiveness and youth dealing with growing westernization and everyday shitty life.
Still, it's not as dark as one might expect despite all of its angst, tragedy and violence. Because, there may be no hope for the future, but at least there's some hope in present and that charming 70s naivety shines as a…

From the mad man who brought us "Pastoral: To Die In The Country" comes a movie that can only be described as "punk cinema."

Wild camera work that may seen normal today, but I am guessing by the time those quick camera zoom where the camera seems to almost hit the actor, I am guessing were pretty revolutionary for its time. Dare I say, many of the work done here leaves the rebels at the French New Wave, in many ways, look like traditionalists. All the wildness its enhance by the great soundtrack and performances that walks the thin line between reality and surrealism.

Some scenes, though, at times feel like they run for too long and the lack of…

To summarise, it's a wildly energetic, rebellious film exploring youthful alienation, naivete, and idealism; a sort of attack on conventional filmmaking and the established reality of a Japan in the 70s suffering a brain-drain as it enters an age of materialism - so, arguably even anti-capitalist, but I cba to do the work of clarifying this for myself. In a way, though, it still resonates with contemporary Japan - and other capitalist states/projects. Maybe I would've liked it a lot more if I was looking at it through a politicised lens.

"When I was at school, I picked up a little lizard in the park. I kept it in a coca-cola bottle and it grew too large to come out.…

明日世界が終わったとしても、
今日はリンゴの木を植えます。

Even if the world ends tomorrow,
I will plant an apple tree today.

Truly an avant-garde and a splendid piece of cinema, a metafilm, stylish, and influentially relevant; Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets is a brutal poetry that despises life, but celebrates the living or perhaps the other way around. Whether in what form and period you are in, this is a film that will always speak its message in one way or another.

Bizarre but in the most realistic way possible. This an ode to youth and freedom, to angst and disillusionment, to materialism and capitalism, to sensationalism and blunt honesty, to the virgin whore and chaste violence, to hope and nihilism, to innocence…