Blue Spring

High-school delinquent Kujo (Matsuda, evidently trying to erase memories of Gohatto by playing macho) becomes top dog in class and is idolised by his buddy Aoki. But as graduation approaches he turns away from his likely future as a yakuza, leaving Aoki bereft and increasingly unstable. Very disappointing after Toyoda's non-fiction Unchain, this is an object lesson in how not to adapt a manga. The director flails around for the right blend of realism and stylisation, and ends up staking everything on scenes of hyperbolic (and pitifully unconvincing) violence.