Film
Yakuza Eiga: A Story of Yakuza Cinema
Cert:(adv 15)
Dir. Yves Montmayeur
France , 72 mins, 2008
Cast: Documentary with: Takashi Miike, Takeshi Kitano, Sonny Chiba, Noboru Ando
The Shine-nominated short film Private Lesson will be shown before this film.
For decades Japan’s gangster brotherhood, the Yakuza, has been held up as a band of chivalrous heroes borne of post-WWII folklore: a romantic, outlaw creed whose rigorously observed watchwords were loyalty and honour. That quasi rose-tinted and accepted portrait, often starring icons like Ken Takakura, ignited an explosion of filmmaking in the ‘60s spawned a slew of movies in which Yakuza characters were presented as something akin to modern Samurai.
The reality was quite different. These were movies for hoodlums (and wannabes) that went against Japan’s strict moral standards. Yet in their idealisation and glorification of a brutal criminal underclass they inspired a generation. The genre even welcomed the real thing: star Noboru Ando only became an actor after serving time in jail as a real-life Yakuza. In the manner of India’s bandit queen, Phoolan Devi, he disbanded his clan live on TV. The best scriptwriter couldn’t make it up.
Much of the film is given over to a fascinating examination of TOEI studios’ conveyor belt output in the ‘60s and ‘70s and the pantheon of stars they created. Like Britain’s Hammer horrors they struck a chord with the kids but remained deeply unpopular with female audiences and families. Recalls director Sadao Nakajima proudly and unapologetically: “Only prostitutes would come to see our movies.”
Yakuza Eiga takes a different road when it focuses on the collapse of this graphic, blood-soaked genre. Following the introduction of Japan’s anti-gang laws in 1992 crusading actor/director Juzo Itami unleashed Minbo no onna, a smash hit that satirised the Yakuza’s Robin Hood reputation. His movie, said detractors, was a propaganda film supporting the police and, a week after the film came out, Itami was slashed by three Yakuza. Five years later, Itami committed suicide. Or did he…?
A glorious treasure trove of clips, Yakuza Eiga lifts the lid on a Japanese phenomenon that, even after the passing of 40 years, has barely made a dent in the West. Among the interviewees is the legend that is Sonny Chiba, pointedly referenced in Quentin Tarantino’s script for True Romance and among the ensemble cast of Kill Bill. Chiba speaks for many when he says: “I love the Yakuza. But only true Yakuza. I see them as the heirs to the samurai spirit.”
Tony Earnshaw
Other films showing that are part of CineFile are:
