Watch Boy

Based on real events reported in Japanese newspapers in 19661, Boy follows the title character across Japan, as he is forced to participate in a dangerous scam to support his dysfunctional family. The boy Toshio's father is an abusive, lazy veteran, who forces his wife, the boy's stepmother, to feign being hit by cars in order to shake down the guilty motorists. When his wife is unable to perform the scam, Toshio is enlisted. The boy's confused perspective of the scams and his chaotic family life are vividly captured in precisely edited sequences. As marital strife, mounting abuse, and continual moving take their toll, the boy tries to escape, either by running away on trains, or by retreating into a sci-fi fantasy he has constructed for his little brother and himself. Finally, in snowy Hokkaid, the law finally catches up when the little brother unwittingly causes a fatal car accident. Although traumatized, Toshio tries to help his family elude capture in the final sequence, presented in documentary fashion, describing their arrest.