*Backlight* is a Nikkatsu film released on August 14, 1956. It was directed by Takumi Furukawa, based on a novel by Kunie Iwahashi, with a screenplay by Ichiro Ikeda. The cast included Mie Kitahara, Minako Kazuki, Misako Watanabe, Shoji Yasui, Kyoji Aoyama, and Hiroshi Nihonyanagi. Although a black-and-white film, it is regarded as a work that vividly portrays the emotions and romantic relationships of postwar youth. In 1956, Nikkatsu was releasing a series of films—such as *The Season of the Sun* and *The Mad Fruit*, both based on works by Shintaro Ishihara—that prominently featured the desires, romance, and physicality of young people, as well as the clash of values between generations. *Backlight* can be better understood when viewed within the context of that era. Mie Kitahara also appeared in *The Mad Fruit* that same year and was one of the actresses embodying the new image of women in the postwar era. The title *Backlight* evokes a visual sensibility in which characters are not brightly illuminated from the front, but rather cast in shadow on the side opposite the light. It also resonates with the sensibility of 1950s coming-of-age films, which depicted the anxiety, jealousy, desire, and loneliness lurking behind the radiance of youth. The fact that archival materials place this film within a body of work exploring physical expression and gender relations suggests that it serves as an example of an era when postwar Japanese cinema began to portray the bodies and emotions of young people more directly than ever before.
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