Sing a Song of Sex 1967

Opening imagery and date

The film opens with red liquid dripping on a red background, establishing a provocative tone for what follows. It establishes February 11, 1967 as the day on which National Foundation Day is celebrated in Japan for the first time as an annual holiday.

Trip to Tokyo for university entrance exams

Four high school students—Nakamura, Ueda, Hiroi, and Maruyama—travel to Tokyo on a snowy day to take their university entrance exams. Their journey marks the start of their day in the capital and sets up the environment in which they will confront social and ethical tensions.

Mocking political petitions and marches

While in Tokyo for the exams, the boys openly mock an anti-Vietnam petition and a march opposing National Foundation Day becoming a holiday. Their casual disrespect underscores their disengagement from political activism and from the era's social issues.

Spotting Number 469 during the exam

During one of the exams, one student notices a pretty girl who is identified only by her seat number—Number 469. The encounter awakens a fixation in the group, and the four boys begin to obsess over her image and presence.

Obsession and fantasized plans

The boys talk constantly about the girl and fantasize a plan to rape her, revealing troubling aspects of their desires. Even in their fantasies, their impulses are repeatedly thwarted, hinting at the fragility of their control and the moral boundaries they cross.

Joining with Ōtake and other students

The four boys join their teacher, Ōtake, and three other high school girls, forming a social group outside the exam context. This marks a shift from private fantasies to shared social interaction.

Ōtake's bawdy performance

In the restaurant, Ōtake, drunk, sings a short bawdy song, which the group experiences as a raw expression of emotion and rebellion. He explains that bawdy songs can represent the voices of the oppressed, lending the song a political resonance.

The song's impact on the group

The four boys are immediately smitten with the bawdy song, and it resonates with their mood and preoccupations. The tune begins to function as a major musical theme of the film, shaping its emotional throughline.

Bawdy song as political and emotional motif

The bawdy song expresses a form of unspoken voice from the oppressed, and its new role as the film's musical motif reinforces themes of power, desire, and dissent. Its placement in the restaurant scene ties personal longing to broader social critique, making music a vehicle for commentary.

Holiday backdrop intensifies the setting

The narrative is framed by the historical context of National Foundation Day's celebration, which contrasts the students' private preoccupations with broader political and cultural issues. The holiday's significance underscores the distance between youthful impulses and national symbolism.

Friendships and authority figures intersect

The group includes a teacher, Ōtake, and three other high school girls, showing adult figures in the students' social sphere. This crossing of boundaries between adolescence and authority raises questions about power dynamics in youth culture.