Japan Cuts ’18: Outrage Coda

Otomo is tan, rested, and ready. His recent time on Jeju Island has been restorative, but he will swing back into action when an up-and-coming yakuza misbehaves in a hotel controlled by his protector. The Yakuza factions will double-cross each other every chance they get, but they cannot possibly contain the chaos let loose by Otomo in Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage Coda (trailer here), which screens during the 2018 Japan Cuts Festival of New Japanese Film.

After beating up two prostitutes who balked at his S&M games, the arrogant Hanada demanded an apology from their organization. Instead, he gets a humiliating dressing-down from Otomo. Hanada even agrees to pay restitution, but he kills Otomo’s bag man on the way out of the country. This does not sit well with Otomo’s new boss, Chang, the politically connected leader of a Korean syndicate that also has operations in Japan. When Hanada’s belated attempt to apologize backfires, Otomo is given the unspoken go-ahead to extract some old school payback.

Since a crisis is also an opportunity, etc., etc., an old school gangster faction within Hanada’s Hanabishi-kai schemes to exploit the brewing conflict with Chang to oust their current president, Nomura, a former financier who did not come up through the yakuza ranks. Of course, while he’s at it, Otomo would also like some payback for his lieutenants who were killed in the previous film.

As director, screenwriter, and lead actor, Takeshi Kitano/Beat Takeshi totally delivers the gangster beatdown goods, once again. Coda is nearly as good as the original Outrage and considerably superior to the still-pretty-good Beyond. In some ways, Coda feels like Kitano’s summation film, sort of like a yakuza Harry Brown or Gran Torino, but Kitano and Otomo apologize for nothing. They might be grizzled and world-weary, but they still have work to do—and if you’re part of it, then woe unto you.

As Otomo, Takeshi the thesp always tacked an ultra-cool, understated approach, but he pares his performance down even further this time around, like a minimalist yakuza Mad Max. However, when he has something to say, it is usually very funny, in a stone-cold kind of way. Kitano also has the support of a small army of colorful supporting players, such as Toshiyuki Nishida as the opportunistic but high-strung underboss Nishino and Pierre Taki as the thuggish Hanada.

For fans of the previous Outrage films, Coda will at least meet and most likely exceed their expectations, which is saying something. It is a fitting conclusion to Otomo’s grand story that has a puncher’s chance of becoming Kitano’s definitive film. It is also a ripping good time at the movies. Very highly recommended, Outrage Coda screens Saturday (7/28) at the Japan Society, as part of this year’s Japan Cuts.

Fantasia ’15: Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen

It its prime, the yakuza life may have had its benefits, but they did not include a pension, 401K, or long-term disability. As a result, those who manage to live into their golden years become an embarrassing burden to their families. Out of boredom and contempt for the new brand of organized crime, a notorious retired yakuza decides to get the old gang back together in Takeshi Kitano’s Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen (trailer here), which screens today during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Ryuzo still has his massive yakuza tattoos and he is not shy about showing them off, much to his salaryman son’s chagrin. One day, Ryuzo nearly falls for a confidence scam, but the arrival of his old crony Masa limits the damage. Evidently, this is one of the many predatory operations run by Keihin Industries, the ostensibly legit financial outfit that took over territory once run by Ryuzo’s now defunct clan.

Assembling his surviving associates (in some cases just barely), Ryuzo forms a new inter-clan “league” to teach the Keihin creeps how crime should be done. They even have the wink-and-a-nod blessing of crusty Det. Murakami, who was just a kid in their day, but is one of the few remaining coppers who still remember the old yakuza. Of course, Ryuzo and his gang (including Mokichi the dreaded “Toilet Assassin”) are over-matched and out of shape, but they do not have much to lose.

Henchmen is about as cute as Kitano gets. There is usually a pronounced element of black humor in his gangster films, particularly the Outrage duology, but now he brings the comedy front-and-center. Of course, when the gags involve finger chopping and commode killings, it helps to have an appreciation for the yakuza tradition.

As Ryuchi, the quietly simmering Tatsuya Fuji looks like he could explode at any time. The former Stray Cat Rock star still has plenty of fierce in him, making him a perfectly suited to anchor the film. However, it is amazing how much pop the film gets from Kitano’s brief appearances as Murakami. Happily, the power of his deceptively placid presence remains undiminished. It just would be nicer to have more of it in Henchmen.

There is a tendency in the film towards goofiness, but the game supporting cast (starting with Masaomi Kondo as the loyal but slightly psychotic Masa) strives more for a nostalgic Tough Guys tone than a shticky Grumpy Old Men kind of thing. It mostly works. Overall, Henchmen is an enjoyable exercise in senior empowerment and old school payback, while also suggesting it is high time someone mounted a comprehensive Kitano career retrospective. It is a lot of fun, but not as much fun as another resurrection of Kitano’s Otomo for an Outrage 3 would be. Recommended for yakuza fans, Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen screens tonight (7/27), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

NYFF ’12: Outrage Beyond

The Sanno Yakuza clan has practically become Japan Inc through the shrewd investment strategies of turncoat underboss Ishihara.  His rise to power was ruthless, as the scars of a handful of surviving foes attest.  Lead actor-director Takeshi Kitano (a.k.a. Beat Takeshi) gives a grateful world another dose of Yakuza badassery with Outrage Beyond (trailer here), the more restrained sequel to last year’s Outrage, which screens as a midnight selection of the 50th New York Film Festival.

If they know what’s good for them, viewers will be fully aware the last time we saw Kitano’s ultra-hardboiled Otomo, he was on the business end of a rather fatal looking prison attack.  However, it will take more than a shiv in the yard to dispatch a hardnose like Otomo.  Things are looking up as OB opens.  Otomo is about to get an early parole thanks to the scheming of the contemptible Det. Kataoka.  By kicking Otomo loose, the crooked cop hopes the gangster will do what he does best.  If nothing else, it is sure to alarm Ishihara.

Not proud of the things he was ordered to do in Outrage 1, Otomo is reluctant to get back in the game.  Yet, he is convinced by an unlikely new ally, Kimura, the man on the other end of the shiv.  Frankly, Otomo does not blame him.  He was the one who permanently scarred his former rival’s face.  Rather put out by the way their former bosses manipulated them, Otomo and Kimura agree to Kataoka’s dodgy plan to wage war against the Sanno, with the suspect backing of the Hanabishi clan.  Of course, it gets way more complicated than that.

Kitano is still the Miles Davis of Yakuza movies.  Nobody else is so rivetingly stone cold cool, while saying so little.  Once again, his shark-like relentlessness and knowing resignation are wholly sufficient to carry the film on his shoulders.  OB is far less action-driven than its predecessor, but it nicely matches the world-weariness of its protagonists.  Still, the opening act is a bit talky and heavy on the exposition.  Nonetheless, the intriguing relationship between Kitano’s Otomo and Hideo Nakano’s Kimura, putting the honor back into the underworld, elevates the second Outrage above the Yakuza field.

While Kitano is the definitive star of the film and possibly the entire genre, he has some colorful support from the overwhelmingly male dominated cast.  As Kataoka, Fumiyo Kohinata is still a hissably audience-pleasing sleazebag.  Coming more to the fore in OB, Ryo Kase also takes a heck of a villainous turn as the oily, borderline psychotic Ishihara.

Like the previous film, Kitano presents the Yakuza world as a chilly, severe environment, dominated by ritual and rich but Spartan decors.  Fans will be happy to hear it is also rather violent.  Though it might not be as slam-bang as they would prefer, it payoffs in a big way.  Although not quite as inspired as its predecessor, Outrage Beyond is a cerebral excursion into gangsterism from a master of the genre, making it a fitting choice for NYFF’s inaugural Midnight section.  It screens this Friday (10/12) and Saturday (10/13) at the Walter Reade and Francesca Beale Theaters, respectively.

The Original Hunger Games: Battle Royale

Do you remember when The Hunger Games was in Japanese?  At that time, it was a manga and film franchise called Battle Royale and it is still way cooler that way.  Though Tora! Tora! Tora! co-director Kinji Fukasaku’s notoriously violent adaptation was released in 2000 (eight years prior to the publication of a certain YA potboiler), it never had a proper American theatrical release, until now.  Middle School Class 3-B will go for the dystopian jugular again when Fukasaku’s Battle Royale (trailer here) opens this Friday at the IFC Center.

In protest of their limited future prospects, eighty-thousand Japanese students boycotted classes.  In retribution, the Battle Royale Act (BR) was passed.  Unfortunately, Class 3-B was not paying attention.  During their graduation trip, Noriko Nakagawa and Shuya Nanahara (whose names evidently translate into English as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark) are more concerned with the halting stirrings of their long pined for romance.  However, their former teacher Kitano has different plans for the class.

Waking up from a dose of knock-out gas, Class 3-B discovers themselves on a remote island with tracking collars affixed to their necks.  Kitano, who appears to have some sort of X-Filish super-governmental authority, explains they will all explode in three days if they do not play the there-can-be-only-one game.  Each student is randomly allotted a different weapon and turned loose in the woods.  Further complicating matters, two “transfer students” are also in on the game: the sadistic Kazuo Kiriyama and past champion Shogo Kawada, who has his own mysterious reasons for returning.  Nanahara vows to protect Nakagawa, but given the nature of the BR, it is not clear whether he ultimately can.

Frankly, it is a bit mystifying how the BR would act as an instrument of social control rather than stoking widespread unrest, but no matter.  More than most subsequent films it influenced, Battle really takes an uncomfortably hard look at human nature.  As a result of the school’s typically arbitrary social structure, resentful outsiders like Mitsuko Souma (played with unusual nuance by j-pop vocalist Kou Shibasaki in a star-making turn) readily embrace the game.  Yet far more refuse to play, either committing suicide in pairs or searching for a long shot escape option.  Despite its obvious existential angst, the film adaptation of Battle (penned by Fukasaku’s son Kenta) is never nihilistic, which is quite the trick to pull off.

Hunger Games defenders should ask themselves who is more hardcore, Donald Sutherland as the evil President Snow or “Beat” Takeshi Kitano as his stone cold namesake.  Before giving a kneejerk answer, check out the latter’s latest masterful Yakuza comic-tragedy, Outrage.  In a way, Fujasaku employs Kitano’s well established deceptively placid persona as a bit of shorthand, but the action star definitely delivers the ruthless goods for his legions of international fans.  Battle is also further distinguished by the running body count it maintains for the benefit of players and viewers alike.

To recap, Battle is more violent and sociological trenchant than its imitators, featuring cult-film all-stars, like Kitano and Chiaki Kuriyama (best known as Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill, vol. 1).  Recommended for all fans of violent dystopian speculative fiction, it begins its premiere American theatrical run this Friday (5/25) at the IFC Center, where it should find a large and appreciative audience to judge by the unexpected success of Ôbayashi’s truly insane House found there.

Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage

If a Yakuza gangster causes offense, it will cost him a finger, if he is lucky. The rank and file of the Ikemoto and Murase clans are about to lose a lot of fingers, but through no real fault of their own. A high level power struggle will make the gangsters’ lives complicated and all kinds of violent in Takeshi Kitano/Beat Takeshi’s Outrage (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Ikemoto is a sworn brother to Murase, but the Chairman (his sworn “father”), wants the clan boss to turn on his old friend. It is not a request. The boss of bosses is still old school enough to be appalled by the Murase drug dealing network. To preserve plausible deniability, Ikemoto sends his underboss Otomo to set up his own subsidiary clan operation in Murase’s territory. Otomo duly provokes the Murase organization, leaving them little recourse, given his connection to Ikemoto. Yet, as the betrayals and naked power grabs come fast and furious, even the stone cold Otomo starts to lose his cool.

Beat Takeshi, as he is billed when appearing on-screen, is the Miles Davis of Yakuza movies and Outrage is the perfect vehicle for his return to the genre. Despite the mayhem roiling around him, he keeps it all grounded with his fatalism and “so what” attitude. Indeed, his persona is perfectly suited to the grim logic of the Yakuza, where everyone knows the next one might have their name on it.

As the director and editor, Kitano juggles his large cast quite deftly, clearly delineating the complex relationships and subsequent double-crosses. Amongst the ensemble, Fumiyo Kohinata really stands out as the utterly sleazy crooked Det. Kataoka. Kitano also upholds his reputation as one of the finer directors of violence with several scenes that neatly split the difference between the brutal and the cartoonish. Never operatic in the Scorsese or De Palma tradition, or over-the-top a la Tarantino, his action scenes are shot in a straight forward manner, from a soldier’s perspective, which is rather compelling when it all starts to go down, right in our faces.

It is so good to have Takeshi/Kitano back on both sides of the camera. Outrage is the sort of film that will unleash viewers’ inner Yakuza fanboy, because it truly delivers the goods. Enormous fun for those not overly sensitive, Outrage is enthusiastically recommended when it opens this Friday (12/2) in New York at the Cinema Village.