A sadly unknown figure of early Japanese cinema, director Mansaku Itami excelled at satirizing and humanizing popular samurai-film motifs like unstoppable swordsmen, clan honor, and wise overlords in order to reflect a truer view of Edo-era society. The jovial, warm-hearted Capricious Young Man follows a samurai tasked with defeating a clueless lord's scheming retainers; here, however, our hero is no all-conquering superhero, but an ordinary man who succeeds through wit and kindness. Capricious is one of the only surviving works of this fascinating director, now mostly remembered for being the father of Juzo Itami (Tampopo); for Juzo, the film stands as both parody, and political allegory. It stars Chiezo Kataoko, one of the era's most popular actors, who excelled in such streetwise, antiheroic roles.