Gendai yakuza: Hito-kiri yota

The proud, self-destructive, punk/anti-hero violates national boundaries without compunction in late 60s/early 70s cinema. Here Isamu Okita (Bunta Sugawara), often simply called "Bro", is reminiscent not only of Alex (A Clockwork Orange) but also of Ivan (The Harder They Come), Johnny Boy (Mean Streets) and even of Michel (À bout de soufflé).

'Gendai yakuza: hito-kiri yota' (which, in English, apparently means something like Outlaw Killer or Street Mobster) is a restless, prowling movie that occasionally bursts into hyperkinetic action. Something about the verging-on-ludicrous action scenes gives the viewer almost the same sense of release that Bro and the other punks feel.

Isamu is a punk, a whore-son, born on the margins of post-war society. By virtue of his own courage and propensity for violence he becomes the leader of a street gang and attracts the attention of the more established yakuza crimelords. Most of the drama revolves around the conflict between his pride and his superiors.

'Street Mobster' is very well filmed and has aged well, it's influence on films like 'Fight Club' is palpable.

Bunta Sugawara plays a low-level criminal who keeps getting in trouble with a major yakuza clan. After a ton of screwing around with them, a second yakuza clan adopts him as one of their own. At first, everyone's happy about it, but soon enough, Sugawara feels trapped and starts to act out. This, of course, does not please his bosses. The main problem with this one is that Sugawara's character is just so unlikable - you have to wonder why the yakuza on either side keep letting him screw around so much. The mobsters from The Godfather would have whacked him instantly (especially since he's essentially a nobody; he has a few followers, but they're just punks, too). The value of the film comes from Fukasaku's direction, which seems revolutionary for 1972, almost Jason Bourne-like with hand-held cameras, thrusting the audience in the kinetic action sequences. The direction is definitely some of Fukasaku's best work.

Street Mobster is a violent Japanese gangster movie by prolific director Fukasaku Kinji who would later on direct influential genre masterpieces such as Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Graveyard of Honor and Yakuza Graveyard. Western audiences know him as the director of dystopian action thriller Battle Royale which was the last movie he was able to complete.

The story of this movie is rather simple. It follows the life of a violent gangster who attacks the members of an inflluential clan who try to extort money from him and associates. He spends some time in prison but soon forms a new gang that is particularly violent. He ultimately gets injured and is temporarily forced to join a bigger family for protection. When another and even bigger family from Osaka tries to increase its influence in Kawasaki, the film's violent antagonist decides to disrespect common conventions and brutally disrespects the different gangster families. The three involved families come to the only reasonable conclusion: they must cooperate to eliminate the antagonist and his associates to preserve peace.

The most interesting element about Street Mobster is its violent, nihilistic and egoistic antagonist who isn't interested in compromises, peace or truces. He desires to become the biggest gangster boss in the country by any means necessary. While this character is extremely dislikeable, he is brutally consequent and honest in his actions and therefore more complex and profound than one might think at first contact. The movie impresses with numerous violent scenes supported by dynamic camera work that have aged rather well and can still be considered offensive nowadays. The film has frantic pace and entertains from start to finish.

On the negative side, there are very few characters to sympathize or empathize with. As opposed to Western gangster movies, even the victims and outsiders in organized crime come off as careless and despicable. The story is also extremely thin and quite predictable. The action scenes are quite intense but also rather repetitive. The movie impresses at first contact but lacks creativity, depth and diversity.

To conclude, you should watch Street Mobster if you are looking for a particularly brutal, entertaining and fast gangster movie that has stood the test of time. This film certainly entertains while it last but doesn't leave any deeper impression due to its thin story line. Street Mobster is a feast for genre fans but can't compete with Fukasaku Kinji's later works.

"Street Mobster" is part of the early 70's crop of Japanese yakuza films that were spearheaded by Kinji Fukasaku, who is once again behind the helm without missing a beat. All the mandatory elements that make a yakuza film work are present: forming and switching of alliances between yakuza families, fistfights, stabbings, a guerilla view of Tokyo, frenetic action sequences, sleaze. But whereas a lesser, more workmanlike director would work these things from a checklist, Fukasaku instills so much energy that even the most rudimentary of things are a pleasure to watch.

Indeed "Street Mobster" is packed full of raw, animalistic energy that more than makes up for the fairly predictable nature of the story. In typical yakuza fashion, yakuza gets out of prison after doing time for a hit, forms a small gang, takes on the bigger families, carnage ensues. It's all part of what makes the genre such pure, unadulterated fun though. However all these typical genre staples take a wildly exhilarating life of their own through Fukasaku's hyperkinetic and gritty style. There's no glamour or glory to be found in Fukasaku's violence: only brutality. Stylization is kept to a bare minimum with lots of hand-held shots and cameras constantly on the move that blend in with the action. The same guerilla tactics are used for the exterior shots that capture the seedy, downtrodden side of a Tokyo full of possibilities. Dilapidated warehouses, cheap bath houses, dark rooms, dim-lit diners, rundown neighborhoods with wooden cabins, again there's no glitz or neon lights shining in Fukasaku's yakuza universe.

Regular collaborator Bunta Sugawara takes on the role of the titular Street Mobster, but gone is his cool (and sullen) demeanor from other yakuza films. He's responsible for some serious scenery consumption, wildly overacting, often approaching even Kikuchiyo territory (Mifune's character from Seven Samurai) but with the same honest, natural approach that made him the great actor that he was. He's also one of the best physical actors I've seen and you can see it paying off in dividends with every fight scene he gets involved with (and there are lots, don't worry).

If you'd like to see a different kind of gangster film, one that relies more on viscera, grittiness and raw energy than faux glamour and hip mafiosos, you should definitely invest in Street Mobster. It's pulpy, fast-paced and balls-out. 70's Japanese action cinema in top form

As can be expected from Japanese master Kinji Fukasaku, "Street Mobster" is a fast paced, stylistic and violent depiction of a low level Yakuza thug who punches to the beat of his own fist.

Bunta Sugawara plays Okita, a small time hood recently released from prison. Upon his arrival to the outside world, he finds the underworld he left behind changed. A new crew runs his old stomping grounds, and he is lost and abandoned. After teaming up with some hoodlums, Okita sets his sights on bigger things, which all leads to his downward spiral in the Japanese underworld.

Fukasaku directs this Yakuza flick with his usual visual tour de force. You can expect freeze frames, quick cuts, fast zooms, hand- held camera work, dutch angles, voice overs, a mixture of b&w and color cinematography, etc. The energy that the director supplies from behind the camera perfectly captures the momentum in which the lead characters react to their daily lives. There is a lot of action, with characters often breaking out into fights and chases at random. This kind of film needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The violence, like the melodrama and tacked on love interest, are over the top but enjoyable.

So sit back and relax. This lean, mean, fast flying fist machine of a film will keep you entertained and enthralled throughout.