Shima wa moratta

A painfully overcomplicated yakuza flick, but it gets by on good performances and fantastic direction. I could barely follow the plot - boiled down, it's a pretty simplistic story of a turf war. Akira Kobayashi stars as a gangster newly released from an 8 year prison stint. He immediately meets up with Jo Shishido outside of the prison. Kobayashi killed his brother in the turf war that landed him in prison, and Shishido has vowed to kill him. He doesn't succeed, and later they become allies when Kobayashi is appointed head of one wing of the gang, though Shishido still has vowed to kill him when all is said and done. There are a lot of recognizable character actors here. Meiko Kaji also appears as Kobayashi's love interest - it's a small role, though. I didn't even recognize her until about halfway through the film. The meek love interest is just not a good fit for her. The fight sequences are all fantastic, even if I did find myself thinking "Now who's this being gutted now?" most of the time.

Having one clan pitted against another one - I don't think you would expect anything else. What nowadays is something you may have more issues with than the violence and criminality in general though: the sexism or how women in general are treated here (no pun intended).

And this has nothing to do with being woke or whatever you want to call it. I always had a high dislike when I saw people being misstreated, no matter the gender. That being said, if you are aware of it, you hopefully are able to handle it. I totally understand if you can't - I had my issues with other movies over similar things, so I won't be judging (again no pun intended).

Interesting fight scenes and a lot of mayhem await ... if you can dig it. Good acting overall too.

Jiro Sagae (Akira Kobayashi) is a Yakuza member of the Ichimonji Family and has just been released from prison after serving eight years for murder. Immediately upon his release he is met by a man named "Hino" (Jo Shishido) who is the brother of the murdered man and insists upon having revenge. A fight ensues but it is broken up by Hino's girlfriend who just happens to be there at this time. Having now gone their separate ways Jiro goes to see his godfather who has been extremely ill and was taken care of by another Yakuza clan known as the Hazema Family. Wishing to express his gratitude he subsequently pays a visit to the godfather of the Hazema Family who offers him a job which involves going to Takagawa City and eliminating two minor Yakuza clans who happen to be rivals of one another. He is then given some men to work under him and one just happens to be Hino-who still intends to kill him. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although the plot is a bit complicated at times, I still found it to be an entertaining Yakuza film for the most part. I especially liked the way in which Jiro managed to pit one Yakuza clan against the other in such a skillful manner. In any case, I recommend this film to viewers who might be interested in a movie of this sort and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

Retaliation (1968)

** (out of 4)

Jiro Sagae (Akira Kobayashi) is released from prison after serving eight years for murdering a man. That man's brother, Hino (Jo Shishido) is there at the gates waiting for his release and promises to kill him. Before long there are many double crossings and Jiro and Hino find themselves on the same side battling some gang members.

I watched RETALIATION as a double feature with MASSACRE GUN. It's funny but I complained that MASSACRE GUN didn't have enough of a story and yet here I am complaining that RETALITATION had way too much story. This here is one of the most confusing films I've ever seen, which is saying quite a bit considering how many movies I've watched over the years. The film has some very memorable moments but sadly they're lost in a rather boring Yajuza story.

There's no question that the screenplay is the biggest issue with this picture because it seems each scene is just adding something new to the story and after a while you're losing memory of who certain characters are and what exactly is going on. There are enough stories here for at least three different films and it's really too bad that so much of the picture gets bogged down.

I say that because there are some memorable and sleazy moments here. Several women are attacked in a variety of scenes and there's even some brief nudity on hand. The most memorable moments are certainly the violence and especially a sequence at the end where a man's throat is cut and blood goes flying all over a wall. This scene really reminded me of the arm sequence in Dario Argento's TENEBRE. I'd also add that the two lead performances were quite good.

All of that is pretty much lost in the story itself but fans of the genre will probably still want to check this out.