Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl (1998)

It’s hard to find a crime drama that came out in the five-year span after Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction that wasn’t directly or indirectly influenced by them, and this goes for Japanese crime dramas as well. Case in point, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl, a wild rock n’ roll ride with a wordy title that is obviously influenced by Tarantino, although a comparison to a Guy Ritchie film might be more apt, as Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl moves at a frenetic pace, and sports a cast of wild, crazy, buffoonish, cartoonish, and violent characters. However, Snatch came out around the same time, and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels was still a year away when Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl came out, so there’s no way of knowing if the influence is there. Regardless, the spirit is.

The Plot.

SSM&PHG is the surrealist story of Momojiri (“Peach Hip”, or "Peach ass" if you prefer) Toshiko (played by Shie Kohinata - an actress who doesn't seem to have done much before or after this role), a youngish girl held as an employed captive by her creepy uncle Sonezaki, played by Shimada Yohachi (Party 7) at the rundown hotel “Symphonia” in an undetermined mountainous area somewhere in rural Japan. Toshiko implements a plan to run away from her disturbed uncle and is finally on the road when she is distracted from her drive by a guy fleeing past her car naked but for his tighty whities.  This underwear clad guy is a good-natured bad guy by the name of Samehada ("Sharkskin"), played by Asano Tadanobu (Party 7, Ichi the Killer). Samehada stole some money from this yakuza group he worked for, and seems to be haphazardly fleeing without much in the way of an escape plan. Fortunately for him, and not so much for Toshiko, she rams into the pursuing vehicle filled with Yakuza, flipping their car and knocking her unconscious.  Samehada quickly commandeers Toshiko's damaged car (with her unconscious still inside), and the chase is on. When Samehada and Toshiko hit the road, bullets and knives fly, and we are introduced to director Katsuhito Ishii’s crazy cast of characters.

Chasing the young lovers is Samehada's former mentor and partner Sawada (Played by yakuza film perennial Susumu Terajima of Gonin 2, Ichi the Killer, Sonatine, and Brother), and Mr. Tanuki, played by Ittoku Kishibe (Another Battle, Violent Cop), and his crew of fashion show rejects, all with odd mannerisms and “Royale with cheese” dialogue fit for a Quentin Tarantino movie. Among the nutty collection of Yakuza crew members we have Mr. Tanuki's neurotic and apprehensive driver Sorimachi, played by Ko Takasugi, the boss's psychotic brat son Mitsuru, played by Tsurumi Shingo (Dead or Alive), strongman Taniguchi, played by Yamada Shingoro, and a baseball bat wielding guy who seems to be suffering from multiple sclerosis name Inuzuka, played by Horibe Keisuke (Party 7), and a whole host of others.

We already know pretty much up front that this band of yakuza misfits is no match for Samehada. That being said, it’s also obvious that Samehada’s lack of a plan to get away with the stolen cash all but guarantees that they’ll catch up with him eventually. Thrown into the chase is Yoshiko’s perverted uncle and his twisted little buddy turned hitman, Yamada, played with disturbing levity by Tatsuya Gasyuin (Party 7), who complicates things for both sides.

The Violent Rundown.

On top of all the other fun, there is a lot of violence in the movie, all of which I dutifully recorded for you. About 17 shootings (including two off screen), two knifings (thrown or otherwise), around four off screen beatings, and a couple on screen beatings, including one with a baseball bat, and a head bashed with a stereo. The violence is more of the black comedy variety, and has no actual impact considering all of the actors are essentially playing over-the-top live action cartoon characters, which keeps it all fun and games in the end.  Suffice it to say, director Ishii doesn't let realism get in the way of the fun.

The Final Verdict.

The move itself looks good (although with the dark and grainy late 1990’s Japanese cinema look aside), with great costumes and decidedly non-urban Japanese landscapes. The movie also includes one of the best opening credits sequences in a yakuza film, and really sets the tone for what’s to come.  In fact, I can't imagine a person seeing the opening sequence and NOT wanting to immediately go out and see this movie:



Although at its core, this is clearly a “lovers on the run” flick, Samehada clearly isn’t running scared. He’s running because it’s fun. Asano Tadanobu seems to be having so much fun in fact, he doesn’t seem to be

acting so much as just playing along with what, all in all, seems to be an excuse to dress up in designer clothes, run around playing with guns, and have Tarantino-esque conversations about nothing. It’s all mindless fun, but it looks good, sounds good, and keeps things entertaining the entire trip. IMDB gives it 7/10, audience scores on Rotten Tomato give it 81%, and critics give it 25%, so this is one of those cases where the critics are just plain wrong. SSM&PHG is probably one of my favorite black comedy/action yakuza films, and with a great rock and roll soundtrack, greatly stylized costumes, and ridiculous, cartoonish violence, I highly recommend it.

2011 Yakuza Film Awards

With 2011 drawing to a close, we are going to revisit the Yakuza movies that were dutifully examined this year with the first annual Yakuza Film Award Show.  Five movies have been reviewed this year, and each, in their own way, had something to offer.  So we'll be highlighting those offerings by awarding the best of the best with  The Yakkie - a golden statuette of Takeuchi Riki.  Nothing says ridiculous Yakuza mayhem like Takeuchi Riki, so what would be more fitting than a golden statue in his honor to award the movies in contention this evening?

It took a lot of thought and debate from the Yakuza Film Academy, and after much debate, three stabbings, and a shooting, consensus was at last reached.  The categories were developed with much thought, and the most deserving winners will go home tonight with a scowling Yakkie to put on the mantle in a display of epic awesome that they have earned with blood, sweat, tears, and a back alley mortal combat death match.  The movies in contention for the epic golden statue are all of the ones that were reviewed in 2011.

So, without further ado, on with the show.  Tonight, we have a variety of categories that touch on all of the important things in Yakuza films, like death, destruction, and bravado.  Our first category is:

Biggest Show of Epic Badassery.

There was a fight to the death for this category, as after all badassery is the staple of the Yakuza film.  However, the creative self-mutilation in the name of preserving one's Yakuza honor displayed in Tokyo Mafia: Yakuza Wars (1995) clinched the win for Takeuchi Riki.  Sure, cutting off your own finger as an act of contrition already smacks of bad-ass, but Takeuchi Riki took it a step further - he bit off his own finger.  And in the eyes of the judges, that's just beyond bad-ass.  Well deserved, in my estimation.

Best Lunatic.

Most Yakuza films have crazy people. It comes with the territory.  But outright lunatics are fewer and farther between.  Had Takashi Miike's Like a Dragon been reviewed this year, Kishitani Goro would have taken home the gold with his portrayal of Majima.  But since he's not in the running, the Yakkie for Best Lunatic goes straight into the hands of Jo Akio for his portrayal of the nameless psychotic Chinese gangster-assassin in Blood.  Without any dialogue to speak of, this lunatic killer offs his victims by suffocating them with plastic bags, all the while with a wide-eyed frozen grin.  I'm not sure if it's creative brilliance or pure uninspired hackery, but it stood out, and that's what counts.

Most Derivative Yakuza Film.

1995's Score was a heist movie in more ways than one.  It stole liberally from Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and, oddly enough, Jean Claude Van Damme's movie Hard Target.  And when I say stole, I don't mean it was inspired by, but that it literally took everything from costumes to concepts to plot points to actual scenes, and recreated them. Normally that kind of thing will get you sued, but in the case of Score, it scored it a golden statuette.  The movie was interesting enough, if for no other reason than to see the variety of ways it recycled old movie parts from Quentin Tarrantino and John Woo, and so the win is well deserved.  After all, every movie needs a gimmick, even if the gimmick in question is that is rips off entire plots and scenes from another movie.  It's a valid gimmick.

Film with the Most Random Characters.

Katsuhito Ishii's Party 7 was short on plot and purpose, but it did have an interesting cast of eclectic characters.  Everyone from the bumbling Yakuza, Miki, to his super hot ex-girlfriend to her strange and wimpy current boyfriend, to Captain Banana and Okita Soji, to everyone else - they each bring something to the table, even if it's just a little quirk or odd manner.  Miki is the presumed main character, but everyone gets equal play, and in a movie where the plot doesn't really matter, that's important.  And each character is so random and wildly different than the next, it helps keep an otherwise pointless movie interesting.

Most Creative Death Scene.

In standard Yakuza films (outside of some of Takashi Miike's more bizarre outings), deaths are pretty standard - bullet to the head, knife to the gut, etc., but in Takeshi Kitano's 2010 Yakuza outing, Outrage, creative uses of brutality become the standard.  You've probably seen the clips on YouTube of heads smashed with rocks, epic uses of rogue dentistry, gunshots and bomb blasts, but the one stand-out kill of Outrage (Spoiler Alert) is the death of Kippei Shiina's character Mizuno.  I'll limit the spoiler by saying it involves a car and a length of rope, and it falls into the realm of "more difficult than it's worth", sort of like the bad guy in a James Bond movie using a slow-moving lazer to eviscerate the hero who is tied to a table, when a bullet to the head would be much more expedient.  Either way, kudos to Kitano for coming up with it - this is why we watch Yakuza movies in the first place.

Most Violent Film.

And now for the Yakuza Film Rundown's version of Best Picture - the most violent film of 2011... and the award goes to Takeshi Kitano for Outrage. Outrage didn't have the biggest body count of the films reviewed in 2011 - that would probably go to Blood - however Outrage displayed some of the most visceral and disturbing violence of any movie reviewed this year.  Kitano was apparently making up for lost time with his latest flick, and that's why we love it - mean spirited gangsters killing each other off in betrayal after betrayal with uninhibited brutality, and without even the morbidly comforting pretext that it was justified; that's just how these guys are, and the win is well deserved.

That's it for the Yakuza Film Rundown awards for 2011, see you next year, where we'll be bringing you even more reviews of films from the Yakuza film genre.  And more violence.

Party 7 (2000)

Although more a movie containing Yakuza than a traditional Yakuza movie, Party 7, Katsuhito Ishii's 2000 followup to his frenetic Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl is possibly still worth a look - and the latter movie is exactly why I threw this one in the Netflix queue in the first place.  Despite the sometimes negative reviews of Sharkskin Man, I thought it was GREAT, and so I decided to track down director Ishii's next movie. Party 7 has seven main characters (hence the title), all introduced during a very cool, yet very long animated opening credit sequence (almost as cool as his intro for SM&PHG).  The characters are typical Ishii characters - quirky, colorful, and talkative.  If Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl was a nod to Quentin Tarantino, then Party 7 is a nod to David Lynch - if he had directed a Quentin Tarantino-written script.  Quirky Tarrantino-esque extended dialogue about nothing in particular abounds, as do strange Lynchian characters - remember David Lynch's Twin Peaks? (Or Miike's Gozu?) That's the kind of characters you find here.





The Plot.

The plot of Party 7 is simple and straightforward. Low level and bumbling Yakuza Miki Shunichiro snatched $200 million from his syndicate, and hides out at the Hotel New Mexico, a strange isolated hotel filled with quirky employees.  Soon, one after another people from his past start showing up at his hotel room door, including his hot ex-girlfriend, her pathetic weakling boyfriend, his Yakuza brother, and an assassin sent to kill them all.  Meanwhile, everything happening in his room is being watched by Captain Banana, a professional peeping tom, and his new protege, Okita Soji - although not the Bakumatsu era Samurai sword master of the same name.  This Okita Soji is a sweatervest wearing peeping tom with a bad haircut, played by Asano Tadanobu, who is the complete polar opposite of his character Samehada from Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl. All that's left is to see who gets the money, and what the heck is going on with the peeping toms in the adjacent secret room.


The Characters.

I'm sure you could make some sort of highbrow argument that each of the seven characters make up a separate Jungian archetype - heck, if I was writing a paper for college on this movie that's exactly what I'd do.  But suffice it to say, each of the seven characters is distinct in their own crazy way.  You have Okita Soji, mentioned above, played by Asano Tadanobu (Ichi the Killer, Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl).  I suspect if one was to watch Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl, and then Party 7, they probably wouldn't even realize it's the same actor, he's that different in this.  He's a nerdy creepy peeping tom who just lost his father (AKA Captain the Yellow, in a twist of Jinglish), and seems to be trying to work through his issues, but not very effectively.  Captain Banana, his father's old peeping buddy (played by the very recently deceased Harada Yoshio), tries to mentor Okita in the ways of peeping, and one of the many engaging plot points is figuring out if Soji will follow in his father's footsteps or not.  No, I'm not serious, I really didn't care all that much.

Miki Shunichiro, played by Nagase Masatoshi is essentially the main character, possibly splitting the job with Asano Tadanobu.  He's a bumbling Yakuza with a suitcase full of cash but no idea how to proceed, and seems to be living a comedy of errors. Mitsukoshi Kana, played by Kobayashi Akemi, is the smoking hot ex-girlfriend of Miki, and apple of Soji's peeping eye, or she quickly becomes so - she's a tough and pouty hot chick who tracked down Miki in his hotel room to collect on a debt.  She is quickly followed by her current boyfriend, a bowl-cut sporting skinny nerd by the name of Todohira, played by Okada Yoshinori, and Miki's Yakuza buddy Sonoda, played by Hirobe Keisuke (Also from the director's previous - and much better - film Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl), who has been sent by the boss to recover the money stolen by Miki.  Lastly, we have Wakagashira, played by Gasyuin Tatsuya, who you will also remember as yet another alum from SSM&PHG (the odd hitman character named Yamada) - mainly because he's playing the same character. He's been tasked with killing everyone.  And that's the "seven" of Party 7. There are a handful of other characters, like the strange hotel staff, the travel agent who can't keep a secret, and Okita Soji's psychiatrist, played by Yakuza film great, Osugi Ren.


The Final Verdict.

Party 7 is over 2 hours long, but it really plays like a short film - probably because the entire movie takes place mainly in two rooms.  The characters are interesting, but the story isn't - exactly how much plot, drama, and twists can you throw into a movie filmed in two rooms?  In this case, not much. (BUT on the other hand, ARAGAMI, which was also filmed in a room or two, was awesome - so it can be done). Party 7 is pointless on its own, it is more like one act of a Tarrantino movie (albeit a very long act).  Is is quirky?  Yes.  But quirky David Lynchian characters with Tarrantino-esque dialogue a movie it does not make.  Now that I think about it, it might make for an interesting stage play, though.  If you like quirky movies, and you liked SSM&PHG, you might like this - stress on the might. Despite the length of the film, it doesn't feel that long, again probably because the sets or situation really never changes.  If it felt any longer, I probably would have been forced to shut it off.  The colorful characters are great, but in this case the sum of the parts is greater than the actual whole - good characters in a less good movie.

Realistically, although it's worth a look for those interested, I can't recommend it for just anyone who isn't into quirky movies and characters. Granted, the dialogue is pretty good, and can be outright funny, but people who expect a deep plot with twists and turns, and well, a meaningful plot most of all, should probably just plain skip this one. There are little glimpses here and there of greatness, but it just doesn't hold. And that is quite a disappointment after director Ishii's fast paced, colorful and crazy music video movie SSM&PHG.  It's better than the most B of B movies like Blood or the Tokyo Mafia series, but even Wild Criminal is a little more interesting - maybe if only because it's more conventional.  Party 7 is not for everyone, but film nerds and people who like movies with quirky characters should get a kick out of it.