Yakuza film
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2012) |
Yakuza film (Japanese: ヤクザ映画, Hepburn: Yakuza eiga) is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of yakuza, Japanese organized crime syndicates. In the silent film era, depictions of bakuto (precursors to modern yakuza) as sympathetic Robin Hood-like characters were common.
Two types of yakuza films emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. The
(personal feelings).In contrast to ninkyo eiga, jitsuroku eiga (実録映画, "actual record films") based on real crime stories became popular in the 1970s. These portrayed modern yakuza not as honorable heirs to the samurai code, but as ruthless street thugs living for their own desires.
Early films
In the silent film era, films depicting bakuto (precursors to modern yakuza) as Robin Hood-like characters were common. They often portrayed historical figures who had accumulated legends over time as "sympathetic but lonely figures, forced to live an outlaw existence and longing, however hopelessly, to return to straight society."[1] Kunisada Chūji was a popular subject, such as in Daisuke Itō's three-part A Diary of Chuji's Travels from 1927. During World War II, the Japanese government used cinema as wartime propaganda, and as such depictions of bakuto generally faded. Mark Schilling named Akira Kurosawa's Drunken Angel from 1948 as the first to depict post-war yakuza in his book The Yakuza Movie Book : A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films, although he noted it does not follow the genre's common themes.[2] The Occupation of Japan that followed World War II also monitored the films being made. However, when the occupation ended in 1952, period-pieces of all types returned to popularity. A notable modern yakuza example is 1961's Hana to Arashi to Gang by Teruo Ishii which launched a series that depicted contemporary gang life including gang warfare.[3]
"Borderless Action" and ninkyo eiga
The studio
A subset of films known as ninkyo eiga (仁侠映画) or "chivalry films" then began to thrive. Most were created by the
Shundo supervised Takakura and helped Toei sign Tsuruta, additionally his own daughter
In 1965, Teruo Ishii directed the first installment in the Abashiri Prison series, which was a huge success and launched Takakura to stardom.
1970s and jitsuroku eiga
Many Japanese movie critics cite the retirement of Junko Fuji in 1972 as marking the decline of the ninkyo eiga.
Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane believes the films were popular because of the time of their release; Japan's economic growth was at its peak and at the end of the 1960s the student uprisings took place. The young people had similar feelings to those of the post-war society depicted in the film.[14] Schilling wrote that after the success of Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Takakura and Tsuruta received less and less roles at the direction of Toei's president. Soon after, Shundo retired, although he would later return.[15]
Decline and home video resurgence
In the 1980s, yakuza movies drastically declined due in part to the rise of home video
But in the 1990s, the low-budget direct-to-video movies called
One director who did not partake in the home video circuit is Takeshi Kitano, whose existential yakuza films are known around the world for a unique style. His films use harsh edits, minimalist dialogue, odd humor, and extreme violence that began with Sonatine (1993) and was perfected in Hana-bi (1997).[19]
Prominent actors
- Mikio Narita
- Tetsuya Watari
- Tomisaburo Wakayama
- Tetsuro Tamba
- Kenji Imai
- Nobuo Kaneko
- Show Aikawa
- Noboru Ando[20]
- Junko Fuji[21]
- Takeshi Kitano
- Kin'ya Kitaōji
- Akira Kobayashi[20]
- Hiroki Matsukata[22]
- Toshirō Mifune
- Ren Osugi
- Joe Shishido
- Bunta Sugawara[23]
- Ken Takakura[24]
- Hideo Murota
- Tsunehiko Watase
- Riki Takeuchi[20]
- Susumu Terajima
- Kōji Tsuruta[20]
- Shingo Yamashiro[25]
- Kenichi Endō
- Ryō Ikebe
Selected films
- A Diary of Chuji's Travels (Daisuke Itō, 1927)
- Drunken Angel (Akira Kurosawa, 1948)
- Underworld Beauty (Seijun Suzuki, 1958)
- Youth of the Beast (Seijun Suzuki, 1963)
- Pale Flower (Masahiro Shinoda, 1964)
- Brutal Tales of Chivalry (Kiyoshi Saeki, 1965)
- Abashiri Prison (Teruo Ishii, 1965)
- Tokyo Drifter (Seijun Suzuki, 1966)
- Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki, 1967)
- Outlaw: Gangster VIP (Toshio Masuda, 1968)[26]
- The Valiant Red Peony (Kōsaku Yamashita, 1968)
- Sympathy for the Underdog (Kinji Fukasaku, 1971)
- Street Mobster (Kinji Fukasaku, 1972)
- Battles Without Honor and Humanity (Kinji Fukasaku, 1973)
- Graveyard of Honor (Kinji Fukasaku, 1975)
- The Yakuza (Sydney Pollack, 1975)
- Black Rain (Ridley Scott, 1989)
- The Punisher (Mark Goldblatt, 1989)[27]
- Boiling Point (Takeshi Kitano, 1990)
- Samurai Cop (Amir Shervan, 1991)[28]
- Minbo (Juzo Itami, 1992)
- Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano, 1993)
- Postman Blues (Sabu, 1997)
- Hana-bi (Takeshi Kitano, 1997)
- Full Metal Yakuza (Takashi Miike, 1997)[29]
- Dead or Alive (Takashi Miike, 1999)
- Brother (Takeshi Kitano, 2000)
- Versus (Ryuhei Kitamura, 2000)[30]
- Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike, 2001)
- Gozu (Takashi Miike, 2003)
- Outrage (Takeshi Kitano, 2010)
- Beyond Outrage (Takeshi Kitano, 2012)
- Gareth Evans, 2014)
- Outrage Coda (Takeshi Kitano, 2017)
- The Outsider (Martin Zandvliet, 2018)
- The Blood of Wolves (Kazuya Shiraishi, 2018)
- Last of the Wolves (Kazuya Shiraishi, 2021)
- Hell Dogs (Masato Harada, 2022)
References
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 21.
- ^ Schilling 2003, pp. 314.
- ^ Schilling 2003, pp. 22–23.
- ^ a b Schilling 2003, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Schrader 1974, p. 3.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 26.
- ^ a b Jitsuroku: Reinventing a Genre (DVD). Home Vision Entertainment. 2004. 10:26 minutes in.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 25.
- ^ Schilling 2003, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Schilling 2003, pp. 26, 29.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 31.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 32.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 33.
- ^ Jitsuroku: Reinventing a Genre (DVD). Home Vision Entertainment. 2004. 3:35 minutes in.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 34.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 35.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 36.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 36–38.
- ^ Schilling 2003, p. 39.
- ^ Complex. December 2, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- ^ "Risk separates stars from actors". The Japan Times. March 14, 2010. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- ^ "Gangster film star Hiroki Matsukata reels in giant tuna". Tokyoreporter.com. November 27, 2009. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- ^ "R.I.P. Bunta Sugawara, of Battles Without Honor & Humanity and Spirited Away". The A.V. Club. December 2, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- ^ "Ken Takakura dead: Japanese actor known for stoic roles passes away aged 83". The Independent. November 18, 2014. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- Japan Times. August 15, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
- ^ "Gangster VIP (1968) - Toshio Masuda | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
- ^ "The Punisher (1989) - Mark Goldblatt | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
- ^ "Samurai Cop (1989) - Amir Shervan | User Reviews | AllMovie".
- ^ "Full Metal Yakuza (1997) - Takashi Miike | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
- ^ "Versus (2000) - Ryuhei Kitamura | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
Sources
- Film Society of Lincoln Center. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014.)
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help - ISBN 1-880656-76-0. Archived from the originalon October 17, 2007.