Yakuza themed movies

[We Are The Witches]

Last night I watched "Outrage" by Takeshi Kitano, so I take that as an inspiration for making this post, where you can name any Yakuza themed movies that you thought were either good, interesting, or have something that is worth watching. Note that they don't necessarily have to be japanese produced films, you'll see why in one of my examples.

Now, I'm actually not that versed in this topic, since I have not watched many, but every once in a while it's refreshing to me, the kind of vibe and atmosphere these films can bring to serve one's desire for media of this kind.

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Since I already watched Outrage, I'll say that I have mixed feelings on it, overall I think it's worth watching, but for some reason it does not stand out to me as one of the greatest, maybe I'll have to watch the sequel, "Beyond Outrage", in order to see all the potential of the story.

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Next, it's one that is not japanese, but Hong Kong produced, and its starring is none other than Jackie Chan in "Shinjuku Incident". I've seen this movie like a minimum of 4 times or so, so you can infer that I like it a lot.

The theme, vaguley explained, centers around Jackie entering Japan illegally in search for his girl, but upon entering, a harsh reality awaits him where he is pretty much forced to survive in a place where there's extreme hostility towards him & his kind, the chinese people. He then encounters chinese comrades in there, who help him in this endeavor, but due to some altercations between the Yakuza and other mafia groups, he gets involved with them, which will heavily impact his life moving forward.

Don't want to spoil anything, but I think it's really good. It's not your stereotypical Jackie Chan movie with comedic fights if that's what you're thinking, but it does have action and adult themes such as violence.

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Next one is "Sonatine", of course, by Takeshi Kitano, which I've watched some years ago. It's one of the classics I'd say, so you'll have to see for yourself.

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And finally for now, it's one that I also watched several years ago, but I don't quite remember fully; all I recall is that I really enjoyed it and that is worth watching at least once, which is the point of this thread. I'll actually rewatch it one of these days.

You may recognize one of the actors: "Riki Takeuchi", one of the main antagonists in the Yakuza 0 games. The name of the movie is "Fudoh: The New Generation".

 

[TATE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODE!!]

Outrage 2 and 3 of course.

Dead or Alive if you want some surreal shit by the end and general Takashi Miike degeneracy. He also did Fudoh.

Battles Without Hope or Humanity movies based on the accounts of a real Yakuza.

I sooooort of recommend Tokyo Vice TV show but the baggage of knowing the real life Jake Adelstein being a Mary Sue can alter your appreciation of it.

Black Rain by Ridley Scott featuring the late great Yusaku Matsuda in his last role.

 

[SpookyObserver]

First Love is about a boxer and a forced prostitute that have the Yakuza as a foe. It is darkly comedic and laments the loss of romance in the yakuza stories.

 

[isalaide]

The only film Kitano made in America, Brother, is not stellar but you will certainly have sat through worse.

 

[Punished Neco]

I quite liked 'A Family', alternative title: 'Yakuza and the Family'.
At least I don't recall it being all that bad.

 

[herefortheactualthreads]

 

[ye's Official KF Burner]

I have to appreciate Beat Takeshi because he was basically a comedian and a totally unserious guy before pumping out all those Yakuza type movies.

He's the same nigga from Takeshi's Castle.

 

[BrodyDaMan]

Check out Tokyo Drifter, it's very artsy, but it's a good, simple yakuza story. It's about a retired hitman who gets into trouble with a clan and needs to escape to a friendly clan.

A more modern one I liked was Why don't you play in Hell, which follows an amateur film crew who get involved in a war between two clans.

 

[frozen_runner]

I would love to get into good yakuza cinema. I'm playing Like a Dragon, and I can tell the series is inspired by (probably) movies I know nothing about.

First Love is about a boxer and a forced prostitute that have the Yakuza as a foe. It is darkly comedic and laments the loss of romance in the yakuza stories.

GREAT film. I got it for like 75 cents on Bluray at a discount store. My best purchase.

 

[Insuficiencia renal]

I saw Ichi The Killer recently, does that one count? It was a pretty edgy and experimental movie, it felt as if the setting and plot involving the Yakuza was just an excuse to get the senseless violence going. It is so famous i would guess you already saw it, but still.

 

[SpookyObserver]

I'm playing Like a Dragon, and I can tell the series is inspired by (probably) movies I know nothing about

Some characters are modeled after and voiced by actors very popular in the genre so youre not wrong with this

 

[BrodyDaMan]

I saw Ichi The Killer recently, does that one count? It was a pretty edgy and experimental movie, it felt as if the setting and plot involving the Yakuza was just an excuse to get the senseless violence going. It is so famous i would guess you already saw it, but still.
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I don't think Ichi the Killer counts tbh, it's more of a movie about sadism and repression than a crime thriller. But Takeshi Mikke's Yakuza Apocalypse is a really good yakuza movie that he made in a similar style, and it even has the guy who played Mad Dog in Raid: Redemption. He even made the official live action adaptation of Yakuza 1, but it's not very good.

He's made a bunch of other, more conventional yakuza movies like Gozu and Graveyard of Honor which seem interesting, but I haven't watched them.

 

[Soi Woh Jak]

Nobody has mentioned ANY Kinji Fukasaku movie, Im so fucking disappointed. Its so over.
Definitely watch Jingi Naki Tatakai (Battles Without Honor and Humanity), the full series, its the pinnacle of Yakuza media in both realism and depravity.

That title picture itself is a good enough reason to watch it, its such a great piece of visual design with blood red title set against an atom bomb backdrop
Definitely watch the original Graveyard of Honor and Cops vs Thugs as well
Kinji Fukasaku movies are so good, Takashii Miike made an entire career out of remaking them
Seijun Suzuki is also pretty good, I see somebody has already mentioned Tokyo Drifter
Kitano has his roots in surreal comedy and his films are a lot more experimental than your average genre movie, even if theyre good.
Yakuza and Chanbara are two genres of film which are practically dead (like westerns funnily enough), unfortunately, so youre not going to get amazing classical affairs with them. Toei specialized in the former while Toho specialized in the latter, both studios have moved on from catering to that kind of audiences so you will not get anything like that anymore. At best youll get a really modern interpretation like First Love or Shogun, at worst endless remakes of 47 Ronin, Seven Samurai and Battles Without Honor and Humanity

 

[We Are The Witches]

Nice recommendations!

I saw Ichi The Killer recently, does that one count? It was a pretty edgy and experimental movie, it felt as if the setting and plot involving the Yakuza was just an excuse to get the senseless violence going. It is so famous i would guess you already saw it, but still.

I have watched Ichi The Killer, but I didn't bother including it here because I've also read the manga, and in comparison, the movie is really bad, again, in comparison.

So yeah, read the manga, it's way better, at least in my opinion.

 

[Commander X]

1967's A Colt is My Passport, starring Jo Shishido, where two hitmen are sent by one boss to eliminate his rival, but find themselves on the run from their victim's gang, and then the boss who hired him has already made peace with his rival's son and successor, who demands the heads of the men who killed his father:

Yakuza Wolf - staring Sonny Chiba in a neo-Western meets Yakuza film, as a vengeful hitman out to pit two rival clans against each other.

The Great Okinawa Yakuza War (1976) - watch it on Tubi. Set as the US was about to relinquish control of Okinawa to the main island, a loyal Okinawan yakuza soldier just out of prison for murder returns to work for his boss, a hot-blooded and increasingly unpredictable fellow played by Sonny Chiba, who has formed a loose alliance with a rival local gang to fend off mainlander Yakuza who want to move in on their territory. Loosely inspired by the Fourth Okinawa War, which was still going on at the time of filming.

Blood for Blood/Ryuketsu No Koso 1971 - a strong cast led by Jo Shishido, in one of those "local Yakuza vs rapacious Tokyo cutthroats" stories. A complicated plot of turf-war chess ensues between two local clans who run a booming factory town and two outsider mobs who want to take over the action, further complicated by family bonds and outlaw honor.

From the director of Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Kinja Fukasaku's last jitsuroku eiga film, 1977's Hokuriku Proxy War -another "homegrown local gangsters vs outsiders" film, set in the titular region, in the Fukui prefecture. Kawada Noboru (Matsukata Hiroki), is a local Yakuza with a rep who won't let anything, tradition, friendship, family, nothing get in his way as he schemes to survive a struggle for control of the Fukui underworld, involving local rivals, the vicious Kanai Group out of Osaka (led by Sonny Chiba in a rather oily acting turn), and a Yanaka Group out of Kanazawa.

A Legend of Turmoil, one of the better Yakuza films of the 1990s, a mean gang war story about the underboss of a small Yakuza clan who retaliates when his boss is attacked. 70s style Yakuza cinema updated with 90s sleekness and Hong Kong style action.

The throwback films The Blood of Wolves and the sequel The Last of the Wolves. In the first film, set in 1988 Hiroshima in what will be the twilight days of the Japanese economic miracle, idealistic rookie detective Shūichi Hioka (Tori Matsuzaka) is partnered with dirty Kurehara City cop Shōgo Ōgami, (Kōji Yakusho) as they investigate the murder of an accountant for a finance company owned by the Kakomura, an affiliate of the Irako-Kai clan. The situation could flare up into a full on war with the Irako-Kai's rivals, the crumbling Odani-gumi gambling syndicate. As the situation grows worse and twistier, Hioka is left with his head spinning as he tries to determine if his veteran partner's crooked ways are a necesseary evil or a hinderance.

The sequel is set in 1991, the not so green Hioki is a good cop trying to be "bad", and has taken to extreme measures to keep the peace in the Hiroshima underworld. Unfortunately Shigehiro Uebayashi (Ryohei Suzuki) former right hand man to the deceased boss of the Irako-Kai, is released from prison. He's an old-fashioned relic of the Showa era, who refuses to accept the more business-like power-through-profitability methods of modern yakuza. His old-fashioned ways and determination to avenge his boss threatens to upset the truce between the factions, meanwhile Hioki and his new partner must investigate the murder of a piano teacher, and the trail leads right into the conflict that threatens to engulf Hiroshima's underworld.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Give me short reviews for the recommended films in case someone wants to discuss:

Outrage

I found it pretty boring by the end, it starts well but the amount of plot armor the Yakuza have is ridiculous with how the police just ignores the blatant murders they do. And by the end it just becomes boring in the millionth case of double cross rather than the more interesting family politics and general corruption.

Shinjuku Incident

Really good with Jackie Chan doing an alright job as a serious actor. The ending is especially bleak ending considering characters are way more likable than in usual Yakuza media, especially Jackie's ex and daughter.

Sonatine

Probably the best, which is ironic considering more than half of it is just the characters having fun on a beachhouse. Also has the most poignant message on how all the Yakuza are people who never mentally grew up and will almost certainly going to die badly.

 

[We Are The Witches]

I found it pretty boring by the end, it starts well but the amount of plot armor the Yakuza have is ridiculous with how the police just ignores the blatant murders they do. And by the end it just becomes boring in the millionth case of double cross rather than the more interesting family politics and general corruption.

I ended up watching the sequels, "Outrage Beyond" and "Outrage Coda".

You know, despite what I've said in my original post about the first movie, I actually think that it was the best of the three by far. The third one being the worst out of all.

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Does Kitano have something with beaches? He loves dead people near the beach, maybe he saw something when he was young and it impacted him to the point where it inspired some of the scenes.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I ended up watching the sequels, "Outrage Beyond" and "Outrage Coda".

You know, despite what I've said in my original post about the first movie, I actually think that it was the best of the three by far. The third one being the worst out of all.

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Does Kitano have something with beaches? He loves dead people near the beach, maybe he saw something when he was young and it impacted him to the point where it inspired some of the scenes.

Maybe if they cut like 20 minutes out of it then it would have flowed better, but still there are a lot of dead characters that don't get any time to develop in the 100 minute runtime so you don't feel anything when they die, unlike the other films that make death impactful. The imdb described it as a Japanese Godfather, but the 3 hours of the Godfather pass way faster.

As for beaches they are classic setpieces in media as a boundary between life and death/afterlife. Not to mention the imagery of a creature coming to the beach to die, like a whale.

 

[We Are The Witches]

As for beaches they are classic setpieces in media as a boundary between life and death/afterlife. Not to mention the imagery of a creature coming to the beach to die, like a whale.

You're right, but I noticed this recurring theme from everything I've seen from Kitano.

 

[el bandito loco]

this isn't Yakuza but similar (Triads) but Infernal Affairs might be my favorite movie. It's one of them. The second one is a prequel and okay and the third one is a prequel and sequel bringing back the original cast. they sequels are worth a watch because they're interesting ideas but the first one is fucking awesome.

It was remade as an Irish mob movie by Scorsese in the Departed which is also good but a radically different style and vibe.

the best straight up Yakuza movies I have ever seen are definitely the Honor and Humanity films.

and this isn't a movie but the book "Confessions of a Yakuza" is super interesting I've read it a couple times. It's memoirs of some guy who held various positions in the Yakuza from a young age covering the 1920s to the late 70s and he talks about some crazy shit and his stint in prison for murder and stuff. the most interesting part is the early stuff when the Yakuza essentially just ran underground gambling games and gets into their codes and customs just because its so different than what we think about as the Yakuza today but they've been around far longer than you'd just assume.