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Tom L
While the samurai film genre can sometimes be the first thought of when it comes to Japanese cinema, the yakuza genre is also well worth consideration. By exploring the underworld of Japan, many filmmakers have crafted narratives of loyalty and honour amid the criminal dealings and violence of the crime world.
As with the samurai genre, though, yakuza movies also seem to be defined by their exploration of the moral code that’s considered central to a Japanese gangster’s life. Navigating the problems of brotherhood, power and duty in the hierarchy of the yakuza, several films over the years provided fascinating accounts of life behind a pistol.
Throughout the course of yakuza cinema, films have naturally changed, too, from realistic depictions of criminal enterprise to more psychological and dramatic character studies that examine the inner workings of those who are inextricably tied to a life in the shadows.
We’ve compiled a list of the best yakuza movies ever made, from horrific showings of violence to transgressions of the genre itself, via some of the greatest names in the history of Japanese cinema. So touch up your tattoos, smooth down your suits and prepare for a bloody showdown.
The 10 best yakuza movies ever made:
Dragnet Girl (Yasujiro Ozu, 1933)
While Yasujiro Ozu is known as a master of Japanese family drama, one of his early works, 1933’s Dragnet Girl, combined his romantic leanings with the world of organised crime. It tells of a typist who is the girlfriend of a small-time gangster who himself seeks to change his criminal ways.
A silent film from Ozu, Dragnet Girl is defined by its brilliant visual storytelling, with Ozu providing a brilliant use of chiaroscuro lighting to douse his movie in an unbridled sense of noir, which is perfect for the early crime work of cinema. Setting out the blueprint for the yakuza movie’s theme of redemption, Ozu might not be the first director in the genre to come to mind, but he still played an important hand in its development.
The Yakuza (Sydney Pollack, 1974)
The only film on this list directed by a non-Japanese director, Sydney Pollack’s 1974 work The Yakuza serves as a fascinating combination of American and Japanese culture. Robert Mitchum stars as a former soldier who returns to Japan to help his friend rescue his friend’s daughter from Japanese gangsters.
While made by an American director, Pollack’s respect for Japan is clear, and he does a commendable job of exploring the themes of loyalty and honour found in many of the best yakuza movies. With Paul Schrader on writing duty, The Yazuka is also doused in a sense of noir and unbridled cool.
Graveyard of Honor (Kinji Fukasaku, 1975)
A stalwart of the yakuza genre, Kinji Fukasaku has delivered many significant contributions, but one of his best is certainly 1975’s Graveyard of Honor. Focusing on a real-life figure of the Japanese underworld, Rikio Ishikawa, Graveyard of Honor, details his violent and self-destructive behaviour and seeming addiction to violence.
In a world in which honour is counterposed with brutality, Fukasaku’s film captures Ishikawa’s rise to prominence in the yakuza culture with an unflinching and gritty quality. The film was remade by Takashi Miike in 2002 with the director’s trademark stylism, but the original is a true classic of the genre.
Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki, 1967)
Certainly the most surreal film on the film, Seijun Suzuki’s 1967 film Branded to Kill, subverted the yakuza genre in one of its most peculiar efforts. The film tells of a low-ranking hitman who descends into madness after failing to complete an assassination in a truly unique and avant-garde style.
Suzuki had made many yakuza movies before Branded to Kill, but his 1967 effort stands out at the most unique. A dreamlike quality haunts the film and it contains bizarre imagery befitting of the works of David Lynch, challenging the hitherto accepted conventions of yakuza cinema, thereby becoming an essential pieces of its history.
Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike, 2001)
Throughout his career, Takashi Miike has made several notable contributions to yakuza cinema, but perhaps his most intoxicating is 2001’s Ichi the Killer. Known for its extreme violence, Miike’s film tells of a sadomasochistic gangster looking for his missing boss and a damaged man being trained into a barbaric killer.
As is often the case with Miike’s films, Ichi the Killer is defined by its over-the-top graphic quality and visceral nature. The film examines pain and pleasure in criminal dealings with great quality, and unsurprisingly, its sense of torture and gore caused widespread controversy.
Pale Flower (Masahiro Shinoda, 1964)
Perhaps the least-known film here is still one of the best. Masahiro Shinoda’s Pale Flower is a Japanese take on film noir that unflinchingly dives into the world of the yakuza and underworld gambling. Narratively, the film tells of the coming together of a recently-released yakuza member and a young woman who lives for high-stakes gambling.
There are a handful of facets that make Shinoda’s movie so impressive. First is the air of existential despair and nihilism that hangs throughout the narrative, and second is the brilliant black-and-white cinematography that helps to create a moody atmosphere, with the film masterfully combining artistry and thematics in equal measure.
Tokyo Drifter (Seijun Suzuki, 1966)
Another brilliant work from one of the masters of yakuza cinema, only this time, compared to Branded to Kill, a slightly more direct take on the genre. Seijun Suzuki’s Tokyo Drifter tells of a loyal yakuza member who tries to leave behind his criminal past but finds that it always haunts him wherever he goes.
Seijun employs a brilliantly bold visual aesthetic that creates one of the yakuza genre’s most impressive works to look at, mirrored by the aural quality of its jazz-inspired soundtrack. As with Branded to Kill, though, Tokyo Drifter still retains the avant-garde leanings of Suzuki in what may be his best ever movie.
Hana-bi (Takeshi Kitano, 1997)
Heralded as one of the most significant names in yakuza cinema, Takeshi Kitano has delivered some of the most memorable contributions to the Japanese gangster film genre. The 1998 film Hani-bi provided the usual transgressions of criminal Japan associated with Kitano and won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Focusing on a retired police detective who turns to a life of crime in order to provide for his terminally ill wife and to take vengeance against those who previously wronged him, Hana-bi is one of the most poignant entries in the yakuza genre, with Kitano delivering his usual sparse poeticism by exploring the importance of duty and love in one of his most moving efforts.
Battles Without Honor and Humanity (Kinji Fukasaku, 1973)
Known in a contemporary sense for inspiring Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Kinji Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor or Humanity is a true masterpiece of Japanese gangster cinema. Inspired by a series of magazine articles and the memoirs of real-life yakuza member Kozo Mino, Fukasaku’s film boasts an air of authenticity that signifies its overall quality.
There’s a grit and realism to the film that tells of the rise and fall of a number of yakuza factions in the aftermath of World War II, with Fukasaku exploring the nature of loyalty, redemption and betrayal with a frantic and visceral quality. A violent work by the 1970s’ standards, Battles Without Honor or Humanity charts the harsh conditions of post-war Japan, making it a socio-politically important movie as well as an exciting one.
Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano, 1993)
However, our number one yakuza movie has to go to the master, Takeshi Kitano. While many consider Hana-bi to be the legendary Japanese director’s best movie of all time, we simply have to go with his brilliant 1993 film Sonatine, which transcended the boundaries of Japanese crime cinema in the most moving and poetic of means.
Kitano stars as a weary member of the Tokyo yakuza old guard who is sent to Okinawa to deal with an ongoing faction conflict. However, upon arrival, Murakawa believes he has been sent to the island to be assassinated. What follows is a patient effort from Kitano in which melancholy and existential introspection take over, leading to a genuinely brilliant piece of yakuza cinema.
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JapanJapaneseTakashi Miiketakeshi kitano