Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets

“A lizard in a coke bottle”: An analysis of youth and society against the backdrop of the American counter-culture.

With his first feature-length film, Shūji Terayama presents the provocative and disturbing cinematic adaptation of his celebrated novel and play of the same name. Noise rock and psychedelic vignettes frame the rebellious and tumultuous society that is home to Hideaki, a dissatisfied, angst-ridden teen dealing with his highly dysfunctional family. In typical Terayama style, the main story is interrupted by shorter narratives introducing various strangers, who are all a part of this social explosion that the director translates into a poetically powerful stream of consciousness, accompanying different cinematic styles with singalong protest music.