An alternate title for The Tragedy of Today listed on IMDb is The Perfect Game, maybe referring to the way this film involves a group of young college students trying to "game" the system of gambling for a bike race in order to pay off debts. Spoiler alert: the game is not perfect. Things go wrong.
Things go surprisingly wrong, actually. The film really takes you off-guard by how dark it gets. It's quite light and breezy early on, feeling like a crime caper or even something of a heist movie, the way they set up their plan, and the fact that while it's risky, it's not exactly life or death stakes.
At least not at first. Complications arise and desperation soon kicks in, and it's surprisingly how brutal some of the consequences end up being. Even though I found it jarring at first, I think I appreciate how willing it was to shift tones so wildly (and I think it worked fairly well in the end).
It's good stuff. It's sharper and snappier than your average Japanese crime-drama from the 50s or 60s, and really doesn't feel like it's as old as it is. Not quite amazing, but very good all-around, and especially so when you read that the director, Toshio Masuda, apparently directed five other films in the year 1958!
Things go surprisingly wrong, actually. The film really takes you off-guard by how dark it gets. It's quite light and breezy early on, feeling like a crime caper or even something of a heist movie, the way they set up their plan, and the fact that while it's risky, it's not exactly life or death stakes.
At least not at first. Complications arise and desperation soon kicks in, and it's surprisingly how brutal some of the consequences end up being. Even though I found it jarring at first, I think I appreciate how willing it was to shift tones so wildly (and I think it worked fairly well in the end).
It's good stuff. It's sharper and snappier than your average Japanese crime-drama from the 50s or 60s, and really doesn't feel like it's as old as it is. Not quite amazing, but very good all-around, and especially so when you read that the director, Toshio Masuda, apparently directed five other films in the year 1958!