Out on Blu-ray and 4K UHD August 27, 2024
A gambler, Tokijiro, is given a place to stay in town. Soon, he finds himself involved with the local criminals to repay his debt.
Written by Shin Hasegawa, Masahiro Kakefuda, and Naoyuki Suzuki, and directed by Tai Katô, Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza is an old school story that keeps its appeal to this day almost 60 years later. It’s a yakuza story, one of crime, but also one of honor, with the latter getting our lead in trouble more than the former it seems. The story here is well written and brought to the screen with a great attention to detail and talent for complex storytelling. The film here has aged rather well in terms of quality while a few story elements are most definitely from the era depicted in the story and when it was filmed. Nonetheless, this is one of those films that grabs you and brings you in almost comfortably, getting the viewer interested early on and not letting go until the end.
The cast here works well together with a strong lead in Kinnosuke Nakamura Goyokin who really gives the titular character a lot while bringing him to the viewers in the best of ways possible. The performances here is subdued at times, layers, and natural, giving the Tokijiro role character and depth. Here, the casting was a bit hard to figure out from the credit (and IMdB is no help with cast names without characters listed), so it is difficult to point out the better performances of the bunch. That being said, the cast as a whole does good work here, giving their respective characters personality and that little something extra that is needed to make them stand out when they need to.
The cinematography by Osamu Furuya (credited as Shin Furuya) is a bit dated here, but it still looks good and serves the film quite well. The images created here show that the style is more about need than about flourishes, but it is also exactly what the story needs. The images created by Furuya and team are lovely and show the quality of films shot in Japan in the 1960s.The film has the looks it seems, giving the gambling den, the house of pleasure, and the home the lead is taken into in different ways, giving the locations personality. The look of the film overall comes together cohesively.
This new release by Radiance Films looks great in high definition with minimal artifacts and no issue to report. The images and sound are great here, giving the film new life. The extras on this release are decent while not numerous, showing that quality over quantity is key sometimes. The interview with Koushi Ueno is a great source of information on film history, particularly on the importance of this specific film. The visual essay by Robin Gatto, a Japanese cinema expert, on lead actor Kinnosuke Nakamura Goyokin is also quite interesting. For those who like a solid release in terms of the physical side will be happy with the booklet that includes new writing and an older review in a new translation, as well as new artwork by Time Tomorrow.