X (Batsu)

A man marks everything he encounters with an X, from telephone poles to fruit and books he fondles in markets to a woman he pursues who lies on the ground, first clothed, then unclothed. As he caresses her back. he puts X’s along her spine. Later, when he draws an X on a storefront. he is beaten and dragged off by businessmen. The allegorical batsu can be either consent or rejection, or the mark of individualism. putting an identifying (or accepting) mark on the world. A private 16mm neo-Dadaist film made by Shuntaro Tanikawa and Toru Takemitsu, who were passionately talking about movies, with a playful mind. Naozumi Yamamoto, who is also a composer and conductor, writes the "X" sign all the time. At first, the film was planned to compose in jazz, but in the end, the music was completed without being able to be included

Directed by Toru Takemitsu, Shuntaro Tanikawa, X (Batsu) leans on a strong ensemble — Naozumi Yamamoto — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 1960.