30 Countries Parts 26 - 28 (Julia/Yojimbo/Tokyo Sonata)

Julia (2008) Dir. Erick Zonca

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Part 26 of the 30 Countries project.

For the purposes of this project this movie is classed as at least partially being of Mexican origin as per its listing on imdb.

This movie owes it all to Tilda Swinton. Without her this would be nothing. Her titular character is a trainwreck, the kind of alcoholic people only dream of writing when they create fluff like Smashed, add to that murder, kidnapping, fleeing to Mexico and a complete lack on conscience and you have the ingredients for an interesting crime thriller and a good redemption story.

Julia is living in the moment, making this shit up as she goes and we are along for the ride with her. The editing representing the characters blackouts is handled well but largely this is a bit of a messy story that at 2.5 hours takes far too long to be told. But Swinton gives it her all, she's a wild thing driven by fear and insecurities and it shows in every scene.

Yojimbo (1961) Dir. Akira Kurosawa

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Part 27 of the 30 Countries project.

For the purposes of this project this movie is classed as at least partially being of Japanese origin as per its listing on imdb.

Forgive me lords of cinema but I just didn't enjoy this classic as much as I think I was supposed to. Pretty universally loved, Kuroswa's tale of Sanjuro the ronin and how he cleaned up the town with no name left me frustrated more than anything.

Of course it is a well told story with excellent visual style, it is Kurosawa, but it sure does amble along at its own pace with a series of unnecessary plot points that meander all over the place, half an hour less and you've got a tightly plotted movie here. The other issue I have is with the acting style and the attempts to play for humour; I'm sure it is traditional for the genre, at least, but it and I just don't get along. I expected a bit more subtlety from a film that inspired Clint Eastwood to not move a facial muscle for two hours.

One of the many great things about this film is the influence it wielded and still wields, for example despite the unnecessary nature of some of the plot it is easy to see where every yakuza movie since stole their plot from like one long sixty year battle without honour and humanity.

Tokyo Sonata (2008) Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Part 28 of the 30 Countries project.

For the purposes of this project this movie is classed as at least partially being of Hong Kong origin as per its listing on imdb.

I've seen too many films about financial crises and unemployment I think. At the same time Swedish youths are rioting over long term unemployment I saw this film about the effect of down-sizing and outsourcing on Japanese salarymen and the disintegration of a nuclear family. That this one doesn't exactly end where you think it will is a blessing indeed. I do however think the Swedish riots might have been more relevant to me.

This film is pretty much what you might expect if you took a slow moving family drama and asked Kiyoshi Kurosawa to get involved with it. A comfortable life slowly disintegrates and suddenly the movie takes a left turn in to the unexpected which has Kurosawa's prints all over it. This juxtaposition of the real and unreal dragged me out of the slow moving drama/horror and with my apathy towards such GFC related storylines these days I don't care to take any messages from it.

Give me some of that post-communism miserabilia from Eastern European countries over this any day.

5 Yakuza Movies for Custard (a blahblahblahgay list)

So, Custard of frontroomcinema fame asks and Custard gets! My review of Outrage prompted a question on what Yakuza movies to watch and this happened in my head. Go blahblahblahhead.

5 Yakuza Movies to Watch Before Autoreiji

1. Yojimbo (1961) Akira Kuroswa


No list of Yakuza movies would be complete without a Kurosawa/Mifune film and this one is fantastic. I see no need to tell you about the wonder of Kurosawa.

A ronin without a name plays two warring crime lords off against each other in a small town in need of protection and then stuff happens but I don't want to give spoilers.

A beautiful looking film heavily influenced by hard boiled film noir and westerns and was notably remade as the Clint Eastwood classic A Fistful of Dollars.

2. Tokyo Drifter (1966) Seijun Suzuki


Seijun Suzuki was the significant director in the 'Romantic Gangster Films' movement in the 1960's. Tired of the formulaic plots and he began to portray the yakuza and their code of conduct as similar in world outlook to the salaryman working for the good of the country. In Suzuki's films, the yakuza consume each other in bizarre rituals; attempts to gain total power or climb the ranks of hitmen.

A gang tries to recruit a ronin, he refuses and assassins are sent for him, crosses and double-crosses abound.

The film seems to delight in its mayhem and is highly stylised in its violence, bringing to mind 60's European cinema.

3. Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973) Kinji Fukasaku


Groundbreaking ultra-violent, documentary style film set in post war Hiroshima from the director of Battle Royale as part of the 1970's move towards brutal realism in yakuza films.

Spanning a period of ten years it follows the tribulations of a minor street thug through the futility of the yakuza lifestyle of constant power struggles and feuds.

Bleak, violent and chaotic this one has been called The Japanese Godfather and is a MUST WATCH. Also called The Yakuza Papers.

4. The Yakuza (1975) Sydney Pollack


Written by Paul Schrader and Robert Towne, directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Mitchum. The Yakuza is a study of a culture clash, Eastern philosophy vs a modernised West and features an intelligent plot for an American actioner of the 70's.

A retired American detective is called to Japan to help an old friend resolve a business conflict with the yakuza and rescue the daughter they've taken hostage.

A fun inclusion, strangely this is the one I think of when I think of yakuza movies despite it being an American movie starring Robert Mitchum that I wasn't overly thrilled with when I first saw it.

5. Sonatine (1993) Takeshi Kitano


Takeshi Kitano almost single handedly revived the yakuza genre in the 1990's with a series of stylised minimalist movies, with Sonatine perhaps his best despite the beauty of Hana-bi.

A world-weary yakuza in Tokyo is assigned to take his clan to Okinawa to help settle a dispute between two factions. Over time, it becomes clear he's been set up, sent to Okinawa so that others can take over his lucrative territory. As his clan dwindles, he plans a revenge.

Sonatine draws the viewer in from the beginning, evokes the whole range of emotions, and whilst its characters are yakuza, it's by no means merely a yakuza film, it's so much more.

There you have it Custard and friends. 5 yakuza movies you should see instead of Autoreiji. Let me know what you think in the blahs.