Yakuza Masterpiece

1970 [JAPANESE]

Action / Crime

3
IMDb Rating 6.9/10 10 118 118

japan yakuza

Plot summary

Tatematsu Minoru, a yakuza belonging to the Ishikawa group that runs the Shinjuku area, has a beautiful sister named Akane. He dreams of sending her to college and turning her into a perfect young lady. He's extremely fond of Akane. His fondness for her goes beyond how he feels about his mistress, Kanae. And yet, Akane feels alone. Now, a new tutor comes into her life that seems to have taken a liking to her...

720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
865.62 MB
1280*534
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds ...
1.57 GB
1920*800
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by searchanddestroy-1

Soft yakuza tale

I found this Japanese film more like a drama than a tough and rough yakuza movie. You have some gangsters, but it is mainly a story of a man, a gangster, deeply in love with a female who is attracted by another guy. Lots of talk, and that is an issue if the feature is not shown with subtitles nor dubbing. But I guess I could get in in the right way. Not bad but I have seen much better. I am Lucky however to have watched it, as far it is a rare film, very hard to purchase. The acting is strong and convincing, as often with Japanese stuff. Not a comedy for sure. There are so many dramas of this kind that I can have, so I have decided to comment the most of them, especially the ones which were not. Some are with subtitles, others not, unfortunately. The main character is sufficiently poignant to retain my attention.
Reviewed by millerian-55 7 / 10

An offbeat, but wonderful gem

A very interesting and bizarre discovery. Basically, the story is Scarface (1932) but the incest element is turned up to eleven.But what really makes this movie is the performances, Katsu and Otani are excellent and have wonderful chemistry to a point where you believe they are siblings and there is always that tension between them that is well-handled. The characters are well-written and fully developed to allow these scenes to play out well though. I love the arc that Katsu's character Minoru takes through this movie, turning from an aggressive Yakuza member that fights anyone who goes after his half-sister, Akane. In the end, coming to understand that in order for Akane to live her life he must let himself die so that his commanding presence no longer keeps her from living her life. And while Minoru is a character that is hard to sympathize with how many people he beats up for merely inconveniencing him, his backstory is not fully explained, but Masumura does a great job at presenting a tragic life that Minoru seems to be trying to have Akane escape out of. He can be a major asshole, but despite the tragic life he has led, he is still willing to work in the Yakuza just to keep Akane from ever living the life he has led. He's a noble man who doesn't realize that the problems he faces can sometimes be his own fault as well, there is even a scene when he is confronted for blaming his mother for his problems, and of course, he hates facing the fact that he deep down can be responsible for himself. It's incredibly tragic and saddeningI love how the Minoru character is handled though, he is not a John Wayne badass who just shoots and hits everybody, (although he does plenty of that) he's a deeply insecure man who lashes out when feeling like his manhood or Akane is threatened (and therefore his manhood) which is beset by the upbringing he had to endure. And Katsu does a great job presenting this character as exactly that.The movie is also incredibly well-framed, obviously, the fight scenes are fantastic, due to the sheer brutality. But even in simple dialogue scenes, Setsuo Kobayashi's cinematography utilizes wonderful framing, most of the time with 3 characters in the same shot layered to get everyone's reaction (which well informs the scenes).This is not an "action" film as it is referred to on IMDB, the fight scenes are great, but the movie is way more of a deep character study on these tragic people beset by tragic upbringings. It's a weird film, with an offbeat pace, but it has great performances, beautiful framing, and excellent character writing. This is a gem that might not be for everyone, but it's worth watching simply because it's an incredibly well-made movie.
Read more IMDb reviews

No comments yet

Be the first to leave a comment