鈴木清順曾說過1963年是他開始在作品中展現自我風格的一年,《野獸之青春》是他首部石破天驚之作。宍户锭錠飾演好打得的水野錠次,在一宗表面看似是警員和情婦自殺案發生後,刻意於黑道圈中現身,激發兩派敵對黑幫互相仇殺。但他的真正身份是什麼?背後有何神秘組織指示?鈴木清順打破一貫黑幫片格局,大玩視覺語言,電影由黑白開始很快便轉為調色板般的畫面,用色大膽鮮明,劇情荒誕誇張,舞台化的美指構圖,建立他原創的另類黑幫片風格。之後的《東京流浪者》及《殺之烙印》,更是他在Cult片界的金漆招牌。

After toiling for years making B-movies for the Nikkatsu Corporation, Suzuki Seijun hit his stride with the violent and inventive Yakuza thriller Youth of the Beast. Longtime Suzuki collaborator Shishido Joe stars as Joji Mizuno, a mysterious stranger who, motives unknown, moves in on a pair of rival Tokyo gangs and pits them against one another. Generally ignored upon release, Youth of the Beast would nevertheless be hailed years later as Suzuki’s breakthrough, revealing the director’s irreverent, satiric and sometimes unfathomable sensibilities to be worthy of celebration and study. Proudly (and accurately) described in its original theatrical trailer as a “hard-boiled masterpiece”.