While he did not see A Lustful Man, Jonathan Rosenbaum's essay gives an idea of how the film fits in with Masumura's other work. Most of the characters Yonosuke runs into are the down and out, the losers of society. There are even a couple of glimpses into gay Japan as when Yonosuke stumbles into a brothel populated by transvestite prostitutes, and during a brief lock up in prison, another prisoner suggests that they sleep together. The women are considered for most of the men to be commodities to be bought, sold, kept or tossed aside. Yonosuke appears to love women for their own sake and not not simply out of his own sexual needs. The film may be interpreted as a critique of materialism as almost every activity is based on the exchange of money. Yonosuke's father is introduced picking up a grain of rice and explaining that his wealth was in part established by his frugality.

On the surface, A Lustful Man may seem to be similar to Truffaut's The Man who Loved Women or some of the films of Fellini, Masumura's former teacher. Masumura keeps Yonosuke's fantasies in the head of his character, while constantly reminding us of the uncompromising realities of the world he lives in. This may also be part of the novel A Lustful Man is based on, but Yonosuke remains constantly optimistic no matter what situation he's in, a samurai era Candide. There is humor to be found in situations such as Yonosuke escaping from a Buddhist monastery only to find a pretty nun alone in a hut. Thinking he is going to seduce the nun, the tables are turned when the woman reveals she is a prostitute, the habit being a source of erotic fantasy for her clients. More often, the Yonosuke's women come to a bad end, in spite of Yonosuke's efforts to save them. Still, for Masumura, it is preferable to move ahead, looking forward to impossible dreams rather than remain trapped in a reality that offers no future except for death.