Now available from Radiance Films
While two yakuza factions are at war to get control of Yokohama, a local gang head is released from jail and forced back into the life he wanted to leave behind.
Written by Kinji Fukasaku, Fumio Kônami, and Norio Osada, and directed by Fukasaku, this early and influential yakuza film takes the slow and steady road of storytelling, taking its time to build and build the story (which does start rather violently) until things reach their boiling point. The writing here is solid and creates a strong story with well-developed characters and twists and turns that are somewhat predictable but work so well here that it doesn’t matter if one has guessed where the story is going. The writing here is so strong that it can take ideas we’ve seen many times since (as this film was an early adopter of these ideas and perhaps a creator of them). The writing sells the story and the characters, giving each plenty to work with and making it clear to the viewer that the story is going to get intense early on.
The cast here really sells the story, including Bunta Sugawara (a regular of the director’s work) as Kazama, Kôji Tsuruta as Tsukamoto, Tomisaburô Wakayama as Miyahara, and Noboru Andô as Ooba. This core group creates a tension between themselves and their respective gangs, bringing a professionalism to their work that transcends into the characters themselves. Their work here gives the characters their gravitas and allows the viewer to believe these men are quietly dangerous. There is something quite strong in each of their performances, creating the perfect storm of performances for the story and the film. The other cast members here support them just right, giving calculated and nuanced performances that bring the film to full circle in some cases. The way the cast here is serious about their work helps the film tremendously and elevate it from good to excellent.
The film’s look is greatly due to the cinematography by Hanjirô Nakazawa who gives the film a style that is almost stoic, bringing the viewer into a world that they normally would not be allowed in and giving them a clear view on it with great framing and camera work. This is the kind of work that is almost documentary-like in its approach, giving the film just the right look. The music also plays in this effect with work by Masanobu Higure that brings the mood and seriousness of the film into the audio realm as well.
This new release from a 4K restoration by Toei Company looks great on Blu-ray and is packed with great extras. The most interesting ones here are the archival interview with Kinji Fukasaku, and the interview with Akihiko Ito. The new and improved English subtitles are great here and help bring the film to modern audiences.