You
do not keep rival Yakuza clans in check by being an apologetic liberal
community organizer. You need a cop with a wild streak. That certainly describes
Shogo “Gami” Ogami. He has the swagger and he can match any Yakuza drink for
drink. Word has it he might be too chummy knocking sake back with Hiroshima’s
leading gangsters. Regardless, the young Internal Affairs detective assigned as
his undercover partner will get quite a lesson in community policing during the
course of Kazuya Shiraishi’s The Blood of
Wolves (trailer
here),
which screens during the 2018 New York Asian Film Festival.
Hiroshima,
1988: a gang war is brewing and only Ogami can stop it, or so he thinks. It is
really just a continuation of the previous war that broke out in the early
1970s. Ogami was also involved in that conflict—perhaps too involved, if rumors
are true. As goody-two-shoes Shuichi Hioka watches his new partner and secret
target extort information from suspects, pop out for quickies with witnesses,
and force him into punishing brawls, he decides everything he has heard about
Ogami must be true. Yet, he slowly starts to appreciate the method behind Ogami’s
madness. In fact, Hioka embraces Ogami’s fast-and-loose tactics just when the
top brass, the media, and the largest Yakuza clan all turn against him.
Seriously,
you cannot get anymore old school than Blood
of Wolves. It is just drenched in atmosphere and attitude. As Ogami, Koji
Yakusho channels Ken Takakura on a grain alcohol bender. Yakusho has played his
share of hard-nosed characters before, but Ogami can knock the wind out of you
with a dismissive glance. Standing next to him is a tough assignment, but Tori
Matsuzaka holds his own quite impressively as the tightly wound Hioka. In fact,
when he eventually runs off the rails, it is quite a spectacle to behold.
Despite
Yakusho’s dominance, Blood is fully
loaded with memorable supporting turns, especially Yoko Maki as a club hostess
with a deep grudge. It is just a ferociously beautiful performance. Pierre Taki
is also quite colorful and almost humanly decent as Ginji Takii, the leader of
a minor right-wing party affiliated with the largest Yakuza clan (and Gami’s
best bud), while Renji Ishibashi is slime personified as its Mephistophelean
chairman.
The
1980s period details are perfectly recreated, while cinematography Takahiro
Haibara soaks up the grit and sleaze of the back alleys of Hiroshima and Kure.
Frankly, it looks like the film was shot in the 1970s rather than the 1980s (or
2010s), but that is not a bad thing. Wolves
is Shiraishi’s best film to date, by far (at least among those that have
had New York festival play). It is also a dynamite showcase for Yakusho and
half a dozen other prominent Japanese screen thesps. Very highly recommended, The Blood of Wolves screens Monday night
(7/2) at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s NYAFF.
