Diary of a Shinjuku Thief

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief
Japanese poster
Directed by	Nagisa Ōshima
Written by	Nagisa Ōshima Mamoru Sasaki Masao Adachi Takeshi Tamura
Starring	Tadanori Yokoo Rie Yokoyama Kei Satō Jūrō Kara Moichi Tanabe Tetsu Takahashi
Cinematography	Sēzō Sengen Yasuhiro Yoshioka
Edited by	Nagisa Ōshima
Distributed by	Sōzōsha Art Theatre Guild
Release date	February 15, 1969 (Japan)
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 directed by Nagisa Ōshima.

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
• Kei Satō
• Jūrō Kara as himself / Singer
• Moichi Tanabe
• Tetsu Takahashi
• Rokko Toura as himself
• Fumio Watanabe as himself
• 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." 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."