Blood (1998)

Takeuchi Riki's 1998 (presumably- no make that very likely) straight to video flick Blood (Wolf's Blood in Japanese) is a B movie in the same vein as Wild Criminal - part Yakuza film and part crime drama.  Takeuchi's bread and butter is playing good guys who do bad things, and the character of Nakajo Takuya fits the bill.  He's a seasoned killer-for-hire who (in the stereotypical fashion of these types of movies) kills without a thought.  But no matter how bad ass Takeuchi plays things, he always brings enough humanity to his roles to show that no matter how tough the guy is, there is some good stowed away there somewhere.  Either that or he just plain wants to hold on to a little bit of the movie hero image.




The Plot.

In the case of Blood, Nakajo Takuya was a good guy with a good girl back in highschool, when he was attacked by some punks and his girlfriend was raped.  His best friend Kamiyama Masayuki (played somewhat blandly by Takachi Noboru, and who looks kinda like Kane Kosugi) saves the day by killing one of the punks with a knife (I'm suddenly having flashbacks to The Outsiders), and the others flee.  Takuya can't let his friend take the rap for killing the punk that was raping his girlfriend, so he turns himself in to the police instead, and goes to jail, where he changes his name to Kizaki and apparently became a cold-blooded killer.  His old buddy Masayuki, free and clear of the cops, marries Takuya's former girlfriend Yuki, and goes to medical school to become a doctor - which is fortunate for Takuya, since the next time they meet he's dying in an emergency room, only to be saved by his old friend.

It also turns out that the very crime boss that is trying to kill Takuya is also a patient of Masayuki's by the name of Ri, who happens to be dying from terminal bone cancer.  Unfortunately for Masayuki and his wife, when the crime boss (played by Hakuryu) finds out that Masayuki and Takuya are old friends, he decides to use this to his advantage, forcing Masayuki to kill Takuya in exchange for the life of his wife. 

Very little in this movie stands out.  Sure, the script isn't unintelligent or bad, but take a typical Takeuchi Riki straight to video movie, toss in a few stock concepts, sprinkle with an colorful character or two, shake well, and voila.

The Cast and Characters.

Most of the characters are bland, including Masayuki, and Takuya, is well, nearly every B movie character Takeuchi has ever played.  And Hakuryu plays the crime boss Ri as simply a serious guy - no over the top craziness that you'd see from Ozawa Hitoshi, for example.  My assumption is that Hakuryu downplays everything because this is a man who will be dead in six months from cancer, but it makes for a sort of uninteresting performance.  The issues Ri may be wrestling with aren't even really tackled in this movie, so Hakuryu isn't given much to work with anyway.  I know Hakuryu has been in many Yakuza films (although none actually come to mind) but this would be one of his less impressive performances.

One standout performance, mainly because it's so over the top is the pinheaded Chinese killer with a perma-grin that works for Ri.  Unfortunately I'm at a loss as to who plays him since I can't seem to find it anywhere, but it's one little thing that helps an otherwise dullish movie.  Another oddity would have to be the grandma assassin (as in a grandma who is an assassin, not one who kills grandmothers) - I'm not sure why the director chose to put in an old lady assassin, but again, another oddity to help distinguish this movie from others.

It bears mentioning that Sugata Shun also has a small cameo at the end.  It also bears mentioning that this would have been a better movie if he had a larger role.  As an aside, one actor who definitely was NOT in this movie was Aikawa Sho - even though until I fixed it, IMDB said he was, and quite a few other sites also said he was in it.  However, a close look at the DVD case of the American release of Blood shows someone who really does look suspiciously like him.  So maybe he's in the director's cut?  If anyone knows, let me know.

There are a few good violent scenes, including Takeuchi Riki taking out bad guys First Blood style, and an ending that I suppose wants to be cool, but doesn't quite pull it off.  It is vaguely similar to the ending of Yakuza Demon, however not nearly as well done.  Which takes us to the violence tally.

The Violent Rundown.

Blood was barely average for violence.  It does start out right in the shit with three executions (and one of the victims looks suspiciously like Rokkaku Seiji, who played the chubby Assassin in Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins), and follows with 12 shootings, 2 snapped necks, 6 stabbings, one partial rape, one slashing, 2 strangulations, and someone getting blown up.  Like I said, average.

The Final Verdict.

Blood really doesn't offer much more than an uninteresting story with a light dusting of a few interesting characters and a couple scenes of acceptable violence (the coolness meter registers a slight tick, nothing stunning by any means).  It is about on par with Tokyo Mafia: Yakuza Wars as far as quality goes, but without the slightly more interesting story and better cast.  Blood is a B movie in every way, and only could really appeal to three types of people - Yakuza film fans, Takeuchi Riki fans, and people who just have to see all Japanese movies. Blood is not terrible in the same way that Tokyo Mafia: Yakuza Wars isn't terrible.  It will satisfy people who are interested in the subject matter or some aspect of it, but probably won't do much for anyone else.  Personally, I didn't hate it, but enjoyed it least of all the movies I've reviewed so far, with the possible exception of Yakuza Zombie. I can barely rank it above Yakuza Zombie as a film, but with a gun in my face and my back to the wall forced to choose, I'll put it just above, mostly because Yakuza Zombie was so much more ridiculous. You can view the trailer for Blood here.

Wild Criminal (1999)

The subject of this Yakuza Film Rundown is Wild Criminal.  Released in 1999, and presumably straight-to-video, Wild Criminal falls into the low-budget exploitation category that contains movies like Sunny Gets Blue and Zero Woman.  But, hey, no one does low budget straight-to-video Yakuza exploitation like Takeuchi Riki, and in this Yakuza Film Rundown, he does it again in Wild Criminal. Granted, he gives up most of his screen time as a secondary or supporting lead to Ozawa Hitoshi (From the last Rundown, Yakuza Zombie, as well as Dead or Alive, and Gozu), but it's still billed as a Takeuchi film.  The reality is, he has less screen time than any other actor - the top billing really should have gone to Ozawa, who plays a mean-spirited and despicable bully of a Yakuza named Suwa.  After watching Ozawa in this movie, I understand a little better why the Yakuza are so impressed with this actor (per the Japanese Wikipedia article) - Ozawa owns the part of Suwa, bringing a crazy and abusive presence to life on the big screen in a brilliant display of method acting - the random shoving, slapping, and abuse of his co-stars looks so natural and unrehearsed that I wouldn't be surprised if he was making it up as he went along.  He's an angry ball of energy in constant motion who seems to be tweaked on something, and is completely unlikeable in every way imaginable.  He's definitely a psychopath, but a different breed from Ishimatsu Rikuo in Miike's Graveyard of Honor.  Where Rikuo is an ice cold emotionless psychopath, Suwa is an explosive and angry bully who beats women and minions with aplomb, but is a coward at heart, and I'll again give Ozawa credit for making Suwa so utterly and completely scummy.  It's a performance that just has to be appreciated.  Also holding a major role is Sugata Shun (Ichi the Killer, Kill Bill, The Last Samurai, and Graveyard of Honor), a Yakuza film veteran and personal favorite of mine, who plays crooked police detective Tadokoro.

Regardless of my opinions on who should get top billing, and besides the fact that Riki Takeuchi does get top billing, the heroes (or in this case heroines) of the story are Yuki and Tomoyo, played by Nomoto Miho and Nakamura Aya, respectively.

 Yuki and Tomoyo are polar opposites in personality, but two sides of the same coin.  Tomoyo is the stereotype of the weak Japanese female who has to rely on men for everything (even a ride, since she doesn't know how to drive), and pretty much trades her body for her safety, or at least her life.  Yuki, on the other hand, isn't necessarily a bad ass bitch, but someone who's been hardened by life and refuses to rely on anyone.  By all rights they should probably be repulsed by each other, but they end up strangely attracted, probably finding something in the other that they lack in themselves.  This pairing of opposites doesn't fuel the movie, and I don't think there is much of a preachy moral about finding strength in difference either.  It's just a background element of two ladies who team up to ultimately kick some ass.

Goofy synthesized elevator jazz aside, the above trailer is put together in the Japanese tradition of not even giving you an inkling of the plot or characters - just random scenes.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again - the Japanese can't do trailers.  Apparently it's an art that is beyond them. Which is ironic since the Japanese usually take something established and make it better. If anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it.  General trailer crapiness aside, the blonde chick is Yuki, the brunette is Tomoyo, and the perpetually angry guy slappin' around bitches is Suwa.  Takeuchi Riki makes an appearance in the trailer as well, because a trailer without Riki is hardly a trailer worth seeing.

The Plot.

Wild Criminal opens with Udo (Takeuchi Riki) meeting some shady individuals for a trade.  Turns out he scammed his yakuza group out of a considerable sum (about 4 million US dollars worth) of bearer stock certificates (so presumably he's trying to trade them for cash).  Thing is, these criminal swaps never go as planned, and Udo kills the two men in a scene of gunfiring badassery, only to find out they were also planning on double-crossing him, leaving him still with no cold hard cash.  His girl Tomoyo is there as a witness, however, unbeknown to him, there is a second witness, Yuki, who had a short time earlier been raped, beaten, and left in the trunk of an old car (after all, rape is a staple of the Yakuza genre). Tomoyo stumbles across her while the swap is taking place, and closes the trunk probably to keep her from being shot. That's the first meeting of Tomoyo and Yuki, but it won't be the last.

A month later, Udo is long gone, and Tomoyo has now become the property of his former yakuza gang member, Suwa, to be slapped, spit on, or abused to his heart's content - after all, as far as Suwa knows, she was a willing accomplice and knows where Udo is hiding out.  And, like any good accomplice, Tomoyo claims stupid, which probably keeps her alive.

It's at Suwa's club where Tomoyo stumbles on Yuki who is employed there as a blackjack dealer.  Tomoyo quickly attaches to herself to Yuki in a manner that can be best described as muriyari. They become a begrudging and mismatched odd couple, who eventually hatch a plot to rip Suwa off for a few million dollars.  That's about the extent of it - it's a fairly straightforward crime drama, and what results is a pretty intelligent plot, some great Tarantinoesque (or Takeshi Kitanoesque) violence, and what should be a cliche twist ending which actually caught me by surprise.

A Note About Takeuchi Riki.

Just like how Harrison Ford always has to play the good guy, Takeuchi Riki has made a career out of being a badass.   Takeuchi Riki's rider probably reads something like "IF you want Takeuchi Riki in your movie, the following parameters must be met: 1. Must scowl in at least three scenes. 2. Must kill at least 5 people. 3. Must ride a motorcycle in at least one scene. 4. Must carry, if not shoot, a pump action double-barreled shotgun. 5. Sunglasses, leather trenchcoat, and unlimited cigarettes must be supplied.  6. If he is to be killed, it is to be the most epic death scene ever put to film."

So essentially my image of Takeuchi Riki has been that he is an ultimate badass who leaves spent shotgun shells and testosterone footprints wherever he treads. And that's badassery in the Steven Seagal in "Hard to Kill" sense of the word.  That was, until I started scouring Youtube for Takeuchi Riki videos, and after seeing things like his music videos, commercials, variety show appearances, and interviews, my image of him changed drastically.  He actually seems like a somewhat dorky guy who may or may not take himself too seriously.  He definitely doesn't come across as the big screen badass that we all know and love.  Which made me realize, sure, he spends most of his time in B-movies, but if such a non-badass can play such a convincing badass onscreen, he must actually be a good, if not great, actor.  Picture Edward Norton, who comes across as such a badass in movies where he plays a badass, but such an unassuming nerd during interviews.  Thus, mathematically speaking, if Edward Norton is a great actor, then Takeuchi Riki must also be a great actor - end of story.  So someone go steal William Hurt's oscar and put it in the more deserving hands of Takeuchi Riki.

The Violent Rundown.

If nothing else, Wild Criminal has shootings in abundance - six - and these aren't shootouts, just good old-fashioned face-to-face executions.  There is also one up-close headshot to add to the list.  Suwa also does a number on the female element, which includes punching, kicking, slapping, shoving, and spitting, and when combined with the rest of the beatings (including beating a corpse), there are about ten beatings administered.  Takashi Miike seems to be famous for having violence against women in his movies, but director HIDE has even more in this one.  Other than that, we're looking at one or two rapes, depending on your definition, as well as one good fight.  All in all to be expected.

Cinematography.

Wild Criminal was filmed in the standard Yakuza B-movie exploitation.  A minimum of camera tricks, and all of the standard camera angles.  Although I did notice that Ozawa Hitoshi did vomit directly on the camera ala Another Lonely Hitman.  There were a few camera highlights - camera shots over the shoulder of the shooter, and a few interesting angles when people had guns in their face.  One thing of note: Apparently the Lighting Technician Guild of Japan was on strike through most of the 1990's - this film, and a lot of other ones filmed around the same time, are VERY poorly lit.  Such a strange contrast from the Japanese epics of the fifties and sixties which were beautifully and masterfully lit (Think Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, for example). Fortunately as we start the 21st century, someone decided to turn the lights back on.

The Final Verdict.

Although Wild Criminal is truly a B-movie exploitation, it straddles the line between Yakuza film and crime drama effectively, and even has a possibly expected, but still satisfying twist at the end.  It plays out much more like a Takeshi Kitano film than an over the top Takashi Miike film, but the measured pace really works here.  And for anyone who can appreciate good acting, Ozawa Hitoshi as Suwa can't be missed.  As for Takeuchi Riki, well, he's Takeuchi Riki, and delivers exactly what you'd expect, and nothing more or less.  Wild Criminal is worth a look for anyone who likes crime drama and colorful characters, just don't go in looking for an epic. It's a B-movie, but a solid film nonetheless. I put it just above Another Lonely Hitman due to more action and a faster pace, but below Like a Dragon, mainly for the lower production value.  You can find a little more info on IMDB (which I spend the last half hour adding info to - so when you read this, it still might not be updated).  Although it isn't available on Netflix, you can find a copy at the Yakuza Film Store, powered by Amazon.com.

Yakuza Zombie (2001)

These days, zombies are everywhere, and back in 2001 they even invaded the Yakuza.  Since I missed Halloween, the subject of this Yakuza Film Rundown is fittingly Yakuza Zombie (実録外伝　ゾンビ極道), directed by Sasaki Hirohisa. This is also my entry to the Wildgrounds 2010 Japanese blogathon, since this time around it involves Japanese cinema.

Ultra-low budget and presumably straight-to-video, Yakuza Zombie does serve as a worthwhile shot of comedic junk food for a slow day, and despite being low-budget junk food, it still manages to put together a respectable cast, including Sugata Shun (Ichi the Killer, Kill Bill, The Last Samurai, and Graveyard of Honor), Ozawa Hitoshi (Boiling Point, Dead or Alive, and Gozu), and Ehara Shu (Dead or Alive, Score).

The Plot.

Yakuza Zombie opens with an introduction to a mysterious Yakuza graveyard deep in the forest, and a story of the baddest Yakuza of them all, Naruo Ryuuji (shown in cut scenes played by Ozawa Hitoshi).  Naruo Ryuuji was a fearless killer who eventually got into heroin and, exactly like Ishimatsu Rikuo in Takashi Miike's Graveyard of Honor, eventually leaps to his death from the top of a prison, claiming he'll be back.  I'm assuming this is a reference to real life crazy Yakuza Ishikawa Rikio, whom the original Graveyard of Honor was based on.  It's established that the corpse of the fierce Yakuza Ryuuji is buried in the graveyard beneath a marker with the Japanese characters "Jingi" (Honor), and then we are taken to the modern day.

Our zombie tale starts with middle-aged bumbling loser Oba Kei'ichi (also played by Ozawa Hitoshi), a member of the Mishima yakuza gang, not to mention the perennial butt of jokes and ridicule from his Yakuza compatriots.  Oba's boss, Miyamoto Kenji (played by one of my top five yakuza film actors, Sugata Shun), is no less forgiving of Oba's shortcomings as a yakuza, but doesn't seem to know what to do with him.  Miyamoto himself is a tad bumbling, and doesn't seem to know exactly what he's doing at any given moment, and fortunately Sugata Shun gives the character of Miyamoto a touch of comedic flair that helps float the movie.

When things start to go bad and a gang war seems to be on the horizon, Oba decides to flee with his pregnant deaf wife Kaori (as if being pregnant wasn't enough), but they are caught in the act of fleeing, and Oba is forced into assassinating the head of the rival Kawabata gang in return for his wife.  He attacks the yakuza boss in a hot spring with a knife, killing him, (in a particularly good assassination scene) however he is double crossed by Miyamoto, who has him gunned down on the spot.  Oba's friend Takada, played by Ehara Shu, is forced to take Oba's body and bury it in the creepy old Yakuza graveyard, and this is where the problems start.  Takada starts digging up Naruo Ryuuji's old grave, and a creepy old lady appears, warning him not to bury anyone in Ryuuji's grave.  Finding herself ignored by the Yakuza (and rightly so), she eventually attacks him, and Takada panics and kills her with his knife, and buries them both in Ryuuji's grave.  Her spraying blood soaks Naruo Ryuuji's "Jingi" gravestone with a foreboding splash.

All of the blood apparently awakens Naruo Ryuuji's restless soul, and he reanimates Oba's corpse.  Oba is in there somewhere, but for the moment, Ryuuji  is in control, and the zombie breaks the surface of the grave, and climbs out, ready to make the people who double crossed him pay.  The Yakuza plans didn't seem to have a contingency for a zombie attack.  The now indestructible Oba zombie is going to go on the warpath using his hands, knives, guns, and baseball bats to clean up the Yakuza.  A comparison could be made here between this movie and Takashi Miike's 1997 film Full Metal Yakuza - a bumbling Yakuza is killed and then reanimated into a vengeance wreaking machine.  And since Full Metal Yakuza came first, I guess there is a chance that some liberties were taken with the idea for Yakuza Zombie.

The one thing going for Yakuza Zombie is the acting - frankly everyone is great, granted Ozawa doesn't do much acting after the first 20 minutes beyond herkey-jerkey staggering and croaking out lines as a zombie (so he really isn't able to show off his acting chops, which is too bad since per the Japanese Wikipedia, apparently his portrayals of Yakuza are so realistic that young Yakuza are shown his films as sort of educational videos) .  But for a straight to video B-movie, the actors seem to take things serious enough for it to work, but not so serious as to make an already ridiculous plot ludicrous (the end result being a horror/comedy/crime drama).  All of the yakuza film conventions are followed, and the non-zombiefied parts are squarely in the Yakuza film genre, and if you like typical scenes of groups of Yakuza arguing and plotting in their offices, this movie delivers.  Lots of typical Yakuza dialogue and scenes for any fan of the genre.

Normally this is about where I pick out the biggest WTF moment, but in this case most of the movie is just one big WTF moment.  That being said, the confrontation between zombie Oba and Takada near the end, set to a goofy feel-good guitar track, was, well, goofy.

The Violent Rundown. 

As usual I put my sanity on the line to tally up the violence (which I'm sure I'll do something with at some point), and although it was tough to count since you can shoot, beat, and stab a zombie all day long to no real effect, I came up with as best a count as I could.  The result is: Once scene of hardcore drug use, four scenes of violence against women (mostly slapping and strangling, and one possible rape - it's not terribly clear), four stabbings (Knives also played a big part in this movie), four beatings, at least two fights, and about ten or so shootings, and two broken necks.

The Final Verdict.

Yakuza Zombie is sort of a cross between a horror/comedy, and a straight Yakuza film that happens to have a zombie appear every now and then.  So it's safe to say that if you like zombies, or if you like Yakuza films, or if you are one of those people who just have to see every Japanese movie you can get your hands on no matter how bad, this one might be for you.  It really doesn't measure up to the other four Yakuza films I've reviewed so far, so I have to rank it at the bottom of the list.  However, to try and give it some perspective, I did find it marginally better than the aptly titled Junk, which was also a Yakuza vs. Zombie movie of sorts (in which Ehara Shu also had a part) - albeit more horror and less Yakuza themes.  Yakuza Zombie currently isn't available in the USA outside of the grey market vendors, so unless you are one of those obsessive types listed above, you probably don't need to burn the calories to find it.  After all, I watched it twice for this review, and I'm probably never going to watch it again.  But it did have enough redeeming qualities for me to not need back the 87x2 minutes two viewings took from me - and hey, I'll give anything with Sugata Shun a chance.

Graveyard of Honor (2002)

Like I mentioned in the introductory post to this blog, it’s rare to find a movie in which the main character is the villain, but when you do, he’s usually likable in his own maverick way, or eventually finds redemption in one form or another (Christian Bale in American Psycho is one evil dude, but he's likable. Anakin Skywalker wasn't terribly likable as a whiny teenager, or as a dark helmet wearing villain, but he did find redemption eventually). However, rarer still is the movie in which the main character as villain not only has absolutely no redeemable qualities whatsoever, but also is thoroughly despicable in every way. Ishimatsu Rikuo, the main protagonist (or more accurately, antagonistic protagonist) in director Takashi Miike’s Graveyard of Honor (新仁義の墓場), is that character. Played with a quiet ferocity by Kishitani Goro, Ishimatsu is similar but different from Kishitani's portrayal of Mizoguchi in "Returner" - a slick badass Japanese sci-fi movie released the same year. Mizoguchi was a classic movie bad-guy, a cold blooded killer with a sarcastic swagger and delusions of grandeur. Ishimatsu isn't even that evolved - he's a fearless brute who takes what (and who) he wants, with no concept of consequences - more animal than human. Ishimatsu isn't your father's honorable rogue. Although Graveyard of Honor has all of the elements of the traditional Yakuza movie, it definitely plays out differently than a traditional Yakuza movie. Well, it ends like a lot of Yakuza movies, but the trip from A to B is a wild, crazy ride. Ostensibly a remake of director Kinji Fukusaku's 1975 film of the same name, it is much more a re-imagining.

Watching the above trailer, I realized something I always knew but never really thought about - the Japanese are great at a lot of things - building cars, anime, hentai tentacle-vomit-bondage porn, and robots, but they totally suck at making movie trailers. They can take any great movie and make it look crappy with really badly edited trailers. I don't think you can really get much of a feel for what's going on in the trailer other than good ole Ishimatsu wreaking havoc on people. But that's why I'm here.

Ishimatsu's start.

Director Miike follows typical convention up front. The movie starts at the end of the story, with the antagonistic protagonist Ishimatsu a prisoner in a jail cell, asking (telling) the guard to let him out to get some air and dry his blanket. The guard eventually agrees to let him out (WTF was he thinking?), and once he and the guard reaches the exit door, the guard is promptly beaten and knocked down the stairs. Ishimatsu goes outside, and climbs to the roof - and we flash back to the story of how he ended up in a jail cell with a wet blanket in the first place.

It turns out that Ishimatsu, a simple restaurant dishwasher, saved a Yakuza boss from an assassin, which gets him quickly inducted into the Yakuza gang, as well as quickly promoted - much to the chagrin of some of the other lieutenants. This quick induction and promotion with no true effort on Ishimatsu's part is probably as unfortunate for him as it turns out to be for everyone else. Somehow up until joining the Yakuza he has been able to keep himself under control and out of jail, and if he had been forced to start at the bottom and work his way up through the Yakuza hierarchy, he would have probably been forced to conform to said society. But suddenly finding himself in a position of power once he enters the criminal underworld where morality is subjective to say the least, whatever ties that kept him under control are gone - the beast is unleashed.


Ishimatsu starts as a loose cannon, but spirals downward steadily as the movie progresses, and this seems on the surface to be the main theme of the movie, and a favorite subject of director Miike's - the downward spiral. We follow a guy who is a sociopath of one variety or another (but without any attempts at charm or appearing normal - Ishimatsu doesn't even attempt to control himself) who essentially turns out to be too unpredictable even for the Yakuza. You get the feeling that he would be much more suited to a low level position of Yakuza thug, but being brought in at a higher level, there is little the other lieutenants can do to rein him in, and as things move forward he spirals downward spectacularly. Unlike Seiji in Miike's epic Yakuza film Yakuza Demon, there is no nobility in Ishimatsu's failure. True to form, and like any good soldier, he proves to be a bloodthirsty Yakuza. Ishimatsu, somewhat like the terminator, viciously stabs a man who owed his Yakuza boss money in a crowded gambling den in front of over a dozen witnesses, and then calmly walks out to the crowded streets of Tokyo, wiping his blood-soaked face and hands on his necktie. This gangster is definitely headed for the slammer.

• Ishimatsu and Chieko.

If you have any doubts that Ishimatsu just ain't a good person, let me put those doubts to bed right now. The blood-soaked Ishimatsu finds his way to the woman who will later become his common-law wife, a hostess by the name of Chieko. Played by Arimori Narimi, Chieko looks haunted and perpetually shell-shocked, like a gazelle that just couldn't quite outrun the lion, and considering her first meeting with Ishimatsu resulted her being raped by him, it shouldn't be surprising. At her place, he gives her a very large stack of cash, and the blood-soaked Ishimatsu promptly rapes her again. Later on, while Ishimatsu is in jail, Chieko goes to visit him, and she brings the cash, attempting to return it to him. He tells her to keep it as her allowance. In a scene reminiscent of the pinnacle moment in Jerry Maguire, she asks, "What am I to you?", to which Ishimatsu replies, "My wife". This gangster cuts right to the chase, not a "You complete me" to be heard. She takes the cash and leaves, and when Ishimatsu finally gets out of the stir, she is there waiting for him - I guess he had her at "rape".

• Ishimatsu and Imamura Kozo.

Oddly enough, it is in jail where we see a small glimpse of humanity in Ishimatsu. His time in jail is spent with a high level lieutenant from another gang, Imamura Kozo, played as low-key and amicable by Miki Ryosuke, a favorite of mine. Their shared status in the Yakuza seems to endear Ishimatsu to Imamura, although I can't say the reverse is also true - although the otherwise stone-faced Ishimatsu does show some glimpses of emotion in his conversations with Imamura, he proves time and again to base friendship on what the person in front of him can do for him at that moment. Much to his misfortune, Imamura doesn't pick up on this, and feels honor-bound to protect and defend Ishimatsu even when circumstances dictate that he should really be cutting all ties with him.

• Ishimatsu and Kikkawa.

The third thread in Graveyard of Honor is Ishimatsu's relationship with his young protege, Kikkawa. Kikkawa starts out working for Ishimatsu directly, and is sort of a young nice-guy type Yakuza out of the gate. While Ishimatsu is cooling his heels in the joint, Kikkawa works his way up in the group, and is eventually forced to harden when he is tasked with hunting his former friend and boss down when he forcibly cuts ties with his "family".

Ishimatsu goes rogue.

After Ishimatsu gets out of jail, he decides to settle down with Chieko (something director Miike doesn't let you know up front, you find out retroactively), and asks his godfather for a loan to buy a hostess bar. It's when Ishimatsu goes to collect the money from the godfather that his fate is sealed. The first line in the movie is a voice-over, which sums it all up: The Godfather went to the dentist with a toothache. In the two hours he was gone... One Yakuza was sent to hell.

The godfather isn't around, and the other lieutenants blow him off, and Ishimatsu basically loses his shit. He figures the godfather never intended to loan him the money for the hostess bar, and begins smashing skulls with a big, heavy ceramic ashtray, and ends by seriously wounding the godfather who took him in. The godfather had intended to give him the loan, but fate decided to step in causing a simple misunderstanding which was blown to the point of no return by Ishimatsu. The remainder of the movie follows Ishimatsu's decent into "hell", and his impact on Chieko, Imamura, and Kikkawa.

Themes.

Although the trip from busting heads at the office with an ashtray to the roof of a jailhouse building is long, sometimes strange, and usually brutal, and although the movie follows Ishimatsu from one scene to the next, I have to wonder if this movie is really about Ishimatsu at all. Ishimatsu is more like a natural disaster - unstoppable, devastating, and can only end badly. The thing about natural disasters is how it affects the people around it. Ishimatsu is like the twister in, well, "Twister", and the deeper threads of the movie are more about how Chieko, Imamura, and Kikkawa are changed or destroyed by the natural disaster that is Ishimatsu.

• Chieko.

Chieko's story is one of (misplaced, self destructive) love. Chieko probably wasn't terribly well off before meeting Ishimatsu, but she had a job, and a small apartment. Without any apparent friends or family, she seems to latch onto Ishimatsu. But when the greatest kindness shown to her in the entire movie by Ishimatsu is him giving up his last dose of heroin to her to stop her withdrawals, you have to wonder how much better things might have turned out for her had she never met him. It probably would have saved her a few beatings, rapes, and a wicked drug habit anyway. She follows Ishimatsu into his downward spiral, and while Japanese audiences might find some kind of sublime beauty in Chieko's dedication to Ishimatsu, Western audiences probably won't see much more than a weak and pathetic excuse for a woman.

• Imamura Kozo.

Imamura's theme is honor. Imamura Kozo is the archetype of the noble Yakuza. Once he befriends Ishimatsu, he feels honor-bound to support and protect him. After Ishimatsu seriously wounds his godfather and is on the run, Imamura is the only person who is willing to protect him. It is apparent to everyone around Imamura that Ishimatsu is nothing but a dangerous liability, but Imamura stands by his honor and hides Ishimatsu. Unfortunately one of Imamura's lieutenants rats Ishimatsu out to the cops, and Ishimatsu heads back to jail - but only for a minute. He escapes, and goes after Imamura with a vengeance, thinking he is the one who sold him out.

• Kikkawa.

Kikkawa is the Yakuza everyman of the story, who ultimately bookends the tale with voiceovers. His theme is a coming-of-age tale of sorts, as it pertains to the Yakuza. Starting out as a young and naive low level Yakuza, he is placed under Ishimatsu as a subordinate. While Ishimatsu is in jail, he slowly works his way up in the group, and when Ishimatsu finally cracks, he is tasked with finding him. Ultimately his path has him removing the thumbs of a former friend to get information, to cutting off his own pinky as atonement for his inability to capture Ishiimatsu, to his final showdown with Ishimatsu that leaves him with a facial scar that, in Japanese pop-culture, is the traditional mark of the Yakuza.

The deeper meaning of the movie is of course left open to interpretation - In the DVD extras (well, my Japanese copy - I have yet to get my hands on the Animeigo version), Kishitani Goro states that he believes that above all else, it is a love story. Arimori Narimi also stated that it was a love story, and actually proclaims her admiration for Chieko. I would say that this statement probably set women's rights back 50 years. Then again, Japan isn't exactly at the forefront of the women's rights movement, so maybe 20 years for Japan. To me Chieko really comes off as nothing more than a pathetic abused woman who keeps coming back for more. Maybe it is a love story, but if so, it just puts Chieko on equal footing with Ishimatsu in the "doomed to their fate" department.

Takashi Miike, on the other hand, stated that he wanted to make a movie about someone who was born a criminal, not someone who became that way. Which makes sense when contrasted with Miike's portrayal of Kikkawa, someone who makes himself a Yakuza out of necessity. Miike makes Ishimatsu someone too self-destructive and brutal to even exist in the world of the Yakuza. Is this his case for the "noble Yakuza" with a code of honor? After all, contrasting Ishimatsu with Kikkawa or Imamura makes the Yakuza appear like the good guys, despite their otherwise questionable morals.

Graveyard of Honor is more a slow burn than an action-packed thriller, with moments of frenetic violence interspersed through the tale of Ishimatsu's undoing. It's a different animal from Deadly Outlaw REKKA or Yakuza Demon, and almost lacks any of Miike's over the top stylized scenes of violence or shock - until the very end, that is. It's much more gritty and slower paced than much of Miike's other work, but it's a welcome addition to the Yakuza genre.

Highlights.
Ishimatsu attacking a group of men with a long metal pipe in a bar. The camera follows him down the street to the bar, and the sound of the metal pipe dragging along the pavement just adds to the tension - you know someone's going to get a beat down, but when it comes with swift brutality, it makes for a great scene.

Ishimatsu, strung out on heroin in his boxer shorts in a shootout on a balcony with the police. An odd and crazy scene, it's got to be seen to be believed.

The violent rundown.

By my count, we've got graphic depictions of 12 beatings, three rapes, three stabbings, 11 shootings, 3 scenes of violence against women, and eight scenes of hard-core drug use, needles and all.

Cinematography.

Miike's camerawork gives this movie a more documentary feel than much of his other work, almost like a reality program that follows a day in the life of a Yakuza. Unlike Kinji Fukusaku's original film, the cinematic techniques include prolific use of (but not exclusively) stationary cameras for wide shots – whole scenes are filmed by one stationary camera from afar, some scenes almost to the point of not being able to see the character’s faces. Whereas Fukusaku tilted and twisted the camera, Miike takes the “stationary camera” concept to an extreme – often a character will be out of frame at the start of a scene, and although they are an active participant in the scene, you won’t see them until later in the scene when the camera angle changes. This includes scenes where, partway through, someone enters the scene via a doorway, but stops short of the shot just outside camera range and begins talking. Not being a film student or film historian, I don’t understand this technique or where it may have come from, but I am sure it is not common in the modern Hollywood movie. Also used often in this film are shots from odd angles – shots from chest level into a group of men from a slight distance, almost like the point of view of someone sitting in a chair on the other side of the room.

Final Verdict: This is my first Yakuza film rundown, but my verdict compares Yakuza movies to the genre, rather than to the world of movies as a whole - particularly since most of them would rate as B movies in the greater picture, so it would be pointless to do so. I'll give Miike's Graveyard of Honor high marks for the pacing, subdued violence (subdued in comparison to Miike's more exploitative films), and realistic (again, compared to the director's other work) storytelling style. I have to subtract points for Ishimatsu and Chieko's relationship. It almost seems so corollary to the plot as to be inconsequential, when it seems that it should have been the heart of the story. You never really figure out if Ishimatsu really cares about Chieko at all (and Ishimatsu wanting a loan to buy a hostess bar literally came out of nowhere) - probably intentional, but it makes the relationship seem superfluous. But, at the same time, by not making the relationship the centerpiece, it gives equal standing to the story of Imamura and Kikkawa, and gives the whole movie a deeper subtext.

As I continue to review movies, I'll start rating them against each other for reference. For now, I'll give this movie a point rating of 8 out of 10, for the above reasons.

I hope the blog was worth your time, it sure as hell took me longer to put it together than I expected. Stay tuned for the next movie on my Yakuza menu!