Yakuza no hakaba: Kuchinashi no hana (1976)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writer:

Kazuo Kasahara (writer)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Plot Keywords:

Yakuza

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Tetsuya Watari	...	Kuroiwa
Meiko Kaji	...	Keiko
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Seizo Fukumoto
Takuzo Kawatani
Hideo Murota
Nagisa Oshima
Tatsuo Umemiya

Also Known As:

Yakuza Burial: Jasmine Flower (USA) (festival title)
Yakuza Graveyard (UK)

Runtime:

USA:97 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16

Company:

Toei Company

Majestic stuff from old school Japanese crime master Fukasaku

I'd like to say straight off that I freakin love Kinji Fukasaku films. I think the man was a genius and I regard every one of his films that I have seen thus far as awesome. This may bias me somewhat Although there are one or two that i like more I still regard Yakuza Graveyard as exceptional. The story follows a predictable arc, but not the fine acting and characterisation do not. There are many films, from Hollywood and elsewhere that try to make us sympathetic towards gangsters because of their upbringing, but most stray into glib justification. Yakuza Graveyard shows how bad upbringings and societal pressures lead to antisocial behaviour without showing this behaviour in a way that condones it. It also shows how a police officer can come to an understanding of this and become, in the eyes of the law though not necessarily the eyes of the sensible, corrupt, without making him seem like just an ordinary decent guy. The main cop in in is pretty mental, and very well played, as are all the other roles. The incredibly fine Meiko Kaji appears and does well, turning the more melodramatic parts towards the end into something really moving. Although I perhaps could have done with more savagery and a more advanced plot, nonetheless this is pretty immense stuff. Just, in my opinion a tiny rung below some of Fukasaku's other work.