Diary of a Shinjuku Thief

1969 film by Nagisa Ōshima

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief
Theatrical release poster

Kanji	新宿泥棒日記

Revised Hepburn	Shinjuku Dorobō Nikki


Directed by	Nagisa Ōshima
Written by	Takeshi Tamura Mamoru Sasaki Masao Adachi Nagisa Ōshima
Produced by	Masayuki Nakajima
Starring	Tadanori Yokoo Rie Yokoyama Kei Satō Jūrō Kara Moichi Tanabe Tetsu Takahashi
Cinematography	Yasuhiro Yoshioka Sēzō Sengen
Edited by	Nagisa Ōshima
Production company	Sōzōsha
Distributed by	Art Theatre Guild
Release date	15 February 1969 (1969-02-15) (Japan)^[1]
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (新宿泥棒日記, Shinjuku Dorobō Nikki) is a 1969 Japanese New Wave film co-written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima.^[2]

Synopsis

The film centers around Birdie, a young Japanese book thief who is caught by a store clerk named Umeko. As their encounters grow increasingly fraught with tension and desire, the two become lovers and begin committing thefts together. They also take part in a kabuki play based on the lives of Yui Shōsetsu and Marubashi Chūya.

Cast

Tadanori Yokoo as Birdey Hilltop
Rie Yokoyama as Umeko Suzuki
Moichi Tanabe
Tetsu Takahashi
Kei Satō
Rokko Toura as himself
Fumio Watanabe as himself
Jūrō Kara as himself / singer
Reisen Ri

Reception

Roger Greenspun of The New York Times called most of the film dull "with an air of having been produced only for purposes of demonstration", concluding that "the result is a high-powered sterility in the midst of much energetic busyness."^[3] The film was described by Ronald Bergan, in his Guardian obituary of Oshima, as "an explosive agitprop movie equating sexual liberation with revolution, whose impact has cooled only marginally."^[4]

References

^ "新宿泥棒日記 (Diary of a Shinjuku Thief)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 October 2019.
^ "新宿泥棒日記 (Diary of a Shinjuku Thief)". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 11 January 2021.
^ Greenspun, Roger (6 July 1973). "Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ Bergan, Ronald (15 January 2013). "Nagisa Oshima obituary". The Guardian.