Sing a Song of Sex 1967

The film opens with a stark image: red liquid dripping onto a red background, immediately setting a graphic mood that frames the story to come. It unfolds on February 11, 1967—the day Japan first marks National Foundation Day as an annual holiday—an opening motif that primes the viewer for a tale about youth, rebellion, and consequence.

Four high school students travel to Tokyo on a snowy day to take their university entrance exams: Nakamura, Ichiro Araki; Ueda, Kōji Iwabuchi; Hiroi, Kazuyoshi Kushida; and Maruyama, Hiroshi Sato. They aren’t politically engaged and openly mock both an anti-Vietnam petition and a march protesting National Foundation Day’s holiday status, showing a mix of teenage indifference and bravado that threads through their journey.

During the exam, one of the boys notices a pretty girl he knows only by her seat number, “Number 469,” and the four become absorbed with her. Their fixation grows as they talk about her and fantasize about a plan to harm her, though their imagined actions are repeatedly thwarted by their own impulses and the constraints of the moment.

The group also becomes entangled with their high school teacher, Ōtake, and three other high school girls, weaving a web of interaction that moves beyond the exam room. In a restaurant, Ōtake, drunk, sings a short bawdy song and asserts that “bawdy songs represent the voices of the oppressed.” The line is starkly delivered and leaves a lasting impression on the four boys, who are drawn to the song’s rebellious energy.

That bawdy tune grows into the film’s major musical motif, shaping how the characters experience the day and its tensions. Through its blunt, sometimes uncomfortable layers, the film explores youth, desire, and the clash between personal longing and ethical boundaries, all anchored by the memorable refrain that threads through every scene.