Hanasareru Gang

Director: Nobuhiro Suwa, Nobuhiro Suwa

1984 / 85min / DCP

An overt homage to the French Nouvelle Vague, whose anything goes approach was an important reference point for many hachimiri filmmakers, Suwa’s debut feature is an occasionally a-chronological genre pastiche involving a band of petty crooks, the girl who joins in on their misadventures, and a suitcase full of cash in a stolen car. Self-aware voiceover from the characters periodically butts in to comment on the action, which swivels between slapstick and serious drama, or to churlishly “spoil” the film’s ending when it has barely just begun. An experimental grab-bag from Suwa, who would continue his dialogue with the Nouvelle Vague in his best-known film, 2001’s H Story, a sort of remake/deconstruction of Alan Resnais’s Hiroshima Mon Amour.