The first ten minutes (past the opening credits) are stuffed so full of exposition that it becomes a little unwieldy, and are not aided by sequencing that feels uncomfortably disjointed. It's not the best of starts. The plot that it sets up is very promising, and even the very next scene to greet us seemingly begins to live up to that promise. Protagonist Atsushi, feeling he has nothing to lose, intends to live recklessly and get the most out of what he has at his disposal; given the crash course background we get to kick off the story and what we know to expect from filmmaker Nagisa Oshima (that is, anything at all), the possibilities are as assuredly endless as they are probably seedy. Unfortunately, I'm at best unsure if this actually lives up to the potential of its own premise. 'Etsuraku,' or 'Pleasures of the flesh,' starts with a good idea, but never gets as interesting as it could be and sometimes can't even seem to make up its mind.
That sequencing, coming across as scattered and unconvincing not just in terms of fundamental editing but also of narrative development, never particularly improves from those first ten minutes. The picture can't decide if our protagonist is a naive child of a man who is flailing with unfocused, impotent emotions and intellect, or a determined, coldly furious, somewhat self-destructive wrecking ball. True, I suppose he could be both in turn, but to me it feels like the screenplay isn't discernibly credible about either notion, and it's hard to tell which facet of the character it approaches more weakly. Despite the title, the premise, the portent of the earliest minutes, and our assumptions of Oshima, the feature actually rather declines major tawdriness. In fact, 'Etsuraku' quite seems to split the difference between romantic drama, character study, and possibly tinges of film noir, yet mostly with the generalized film-making and storytelling sensibilities of 1940s Hollywood - declining explicit depiction, and doling out emphatic story beats without specifically fleshing out the tale otherwise.
Frankly, I'm not entirely sold. The writing seems uncertain of itself - perhaps the dialogue above all. It's only within the last minutes that this seems to meaningfully find its feet, but by then it's too little, too late, and the vibrancy of the final notes are diminished for prior lack and unevenness. Oshima's direction elsewhere has impressed me; here, he doesn't make much of a mark at all. Other folks behind the scenes turned in good work, sure, as did the cast, but nothing here is especially remarkable. The movie just kind of coasts along. And with all this having been said, as it periodically tries to weave in a psychological element, it lacks the measured, delicate hand to do so effectively. There are terrific ideas underlying the screenplay, and I simply don't believe they've been realized in a way that really makes any of them count. None of this is to say that 'Etsuraku' is altogether bad, because I don't think that's true, but it's only part of the picture it could have been. None of what is most important about this film comes out quite right. It's still decent enough to watch if you happen to come across it, but one way or another, I think it only earns a soft recommendation.
