A young woman from the countryside miyuki kuwano of oshima’s cruel story of youth falls in love with a handsome hoodlum mikijiro hira, sword of the beast, who pushes her into a life of prostitution. When his sleazy superiors catch sight of her, she finds herself trapped inside the gaudy maze of city nightlife. Directed by noburo nakamura, a veteran of the shochiku studio’s signature golden age family dramas, the shape of night was made as a reaction to the radical film styles of the japanese new wave. With its lush cinematography full of saturated colours, a lyrical tone and its story of love leading to inescapable tragedy, it has been compared to the films of douglas sirk, while also acting as a precursor to the work of wong kar wai.★★★★★ ”a lyrical, nearly wong kar wai like counterpart to ardent work by oshima or imamura” – film comment“kept me continually gripped and often surprised” – david bordwellthe camera angles and movements, the colour scheme and editing all work brilliantly to illustrate her constant sacrifice and lead us to emotionally internalise the gaudy city as a dazzling parade that always leads her back to her situation. Stylistically the film anticipates the wong kar wai of in the mood for love and echoes douglas sirk at his most stirring. – nick james, sight and sound