Shinjuku Triad Society

Amidst a Chinese and Japanese mafia war, a lawyer for the Chinese mob finds a rift forming between him and his corrupt police officer brother. Welcome to the "black society", the underworld that exists just beyond the periphery of our vision.

In this world, many of the characters have a grey, ambiguous morality, and (in the words of Tom Mes) "nobody does what you expect them to do." In this sense, the film is not terribly far removed from the classic noir with its gritty scenarios and anti-heroes. Of course, here it goes in directions never before considered.

The ethnic / nationality aspect is fascinating, even if not fully comprehensible to an American audience. We can understand the ancient divide between China and Japan, and appreciate how this battle is now playing out between the Triads and yakuza. But the use of a character half-Japanese, half-Chinese is brilliant. Americans who do not understand the languages or customs may miss the point, but for their culture it is no different than how we once thought of the "mulatto" -- rejected by both black and white cultures.

Sight & Sound noted the film was similar to the gangster films of Kinji Fukasaku, while noting that it still contained "scenes such as the one where sodomy is used as a police interrogation technique bear Miike's unmistakable signature." (Interestingly, neither Miike nor Fukasaku are primarily known for their gangster films -- Fukasaku is connected best to "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Battle Royale".)

The film is one of the earliest examples of Miike's use of extreme violence. We have decapitated heads, eyes ripped from their sockets, and the aforementioned sodomy. The film also has some unsettling sexual aspects. Not quite on par with Miike's "Visitor Q", but what is?

Also worth noting is the soundtrack, which often sound like more 1980s synth than 1990s techno. Was this a style choice, or was Japan in a different musical era than the United States in 1995? Interestingly, this film is composer Atorie Shira's only credit. Another "anachronism" is a trunk shot very reminiscent of "Reservoir Dogs" (1992). Coincidence? It's no secret that Tarantino borrows from his favorite films, but was Miike borrowing from Tarantino?

Arrow Video has released the film as part of their Black Society Blu-ray box set, complete with an all-new audio commentary from Miike expert Tom Mes, the author of "Agitator". This is actually the second Mes commentary for the film, so anyone who has an old DVD can now hear him twice. (Interestingly, he feels this film has a "gothic element", which is not something that immediately comes to mind when you are talking about Miike.)

This movie is the first of Miikes triad society trilogy, and the trilogy kicks of to a great start. The movies in the trilogy are only connected thematically, and these themes are actually apparent in all his films, if you look close enough. Shinjuku Triad Society is about a cop trying to prevent his kid brother from getting too involved with a rather extreme gang of outsiders, struggling their way to the top of Tokyos yakuza. The kid brother is a lawyer, and the triad gang is becoming increasingly in need of one, as the movie progresses. The movie takes place in a very harsh environment, and is therefore pretty violent and tough. Miike has done worse, but since this is a serious movie it hits you very hard. As usual there is also a lot of perverted sex, mostly homosexual in this one. The movie is in many ways a typical gangster movie, but with a great drive and true grittiness. If you've only seen Miikes far-out movies (Ichi the killer, Fudoh etc.) this is worth checking out since it is sort of a compromise between his aggressive over-the-top style displayed in those movies and his more serious side, as seen in the other films of the trilogy. And as always with Miike, there are at least two scenes in this that you'll NEVER forget (see it and figure out which ones for yourself).

8/10

Shinjuku is a bizarre film even by Miike's standards. I'm still undecided about whether I like this film or not and I'm not quite sure where to begin describing this film. In layman's terms it's a film about two brothers, one's a police officer (Kiriya) the other is a lawyer (Yoshihito) working for the mafia. During the course of the film a war breaks out between the Chinese and Japanese gangs, and it's down to Kiriya to keep his younger brother safe from the fallout.

Shinjuku is one of Miike's early projects and was the first one to get him noticed, whether that's from the sheer shock factor or genuine talent I don't know. The film has a certain low budget aesthetic that works really well. The film also has a genuine sense of grit and nihilism to it. The characters are all horrible, and they do horrific things to each other. From scenes where the police interrogate their suspects by anally raping them, to the mafia harvesting organs from children there are no good guys in this film, only shades of grey.

The film also tries to deal with a wide range of taboo topics, most notably having a homoerotic undertone which at times felt out of place, and only there to serve as shock value. Over-all there are some interesting aspects to the film. I liked the main story and the juxtaposition between the two brothers, despite it not being very original. Shinjuku had moments of brilliance but for the most part I didn't buy into what Miike was going for.

I found this a bit hard to follow to the extent that it seemed to dip in the middle while I tried to make head or tail of who was fighting who and why. One of the problems is the cultural/language one. Here we have a Chinese/Taiwanese/Japanese problem of which we know little and because we are simply reading English subtitles inevitably loose some of the subtleties. Another problem is that there seem to be just too many only half explained twists and coincidences. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that there is a wholly bad Miiki film and this certainly is not that. Plenty of stylish and bone crunching violence, a window upon some less than orthodox sexual goings on plus the family aspect. All in all a decent ride but maybe checking out the storyline might actually be helpful before watching this one. PLEASE SEE later re-appraisal 11/2/19

When I heard about Takashi Miike I thougt he was like Quentin Tarantino of Japan. Well, after this movie I realized he's more than that & these two directors are completely different. Also, if we consider some other movies by Miike, I don't think Tarantino could go that far about taboo subjects.

Movie: Tatsuhito Kiriya, a Japanese cop with Chinese descent trying to take care of his old parents while trying to either catch or eliminate a triad boss who's running the organ trafficking business and Kiriya also wants to keep his younger brother Yoshihito (who is a lawyer working for that gang's legal department) away from the underworld.

Now, this movie is definitely not for everyone. Violence and sexuality plays a big role and movie never shies away from using bizzare images, which can be uncomfortable to watch sometimes. Even the main character who supposed to represent the ''goodness'' isn't that much of a good person. In fact, there isn't a ''good guy'' in this film. It's about bad guys vs. worse guys, guns, beating and stuff. You shouldn't overthink it.

Note: Even though this movie is often mentioned as a Yakuza film, it's mostly about a Chinese triad.

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8/10