Hâdo romanchikkâ

Hard Romanticker (2011)

I'm not a good judge of Yakuza movies. They're always so violent and tragic because crime doesn't pay, of course, but it seems like the characters are always so doomed. This one is very typical only it dealing with younger guys wanting to become full-fledged gangsters. You have the young motorcycle gangsters (Bosozoku), drug dealers, knuckle busters, want-to-be pimps, etc.

The protagonist Gu (Shota Matsuda, with died blond hair) is willing to do anything it takes to make it as a Yakuza. He tries to do the honorable thing, but is sold out by his bosses, harassed by the cops and beat up by the competition.

"Hard Romantiker" plays a bit like a Yakuza film for the teen set. The "gangsters" are young and arrogant, and they all aspire to be professional criminals. The film revolves around 'Gu,' the blond "James Dean-like" young thug, who has no fear, and is not shy about cracking someones head open with any blunt object at hand. This is a high octane film with wall to wall style, and featuring some nasty violence, a lot of it directed at young women; Western audiences not used to seeing men casually beat women's faces in, might be a little uncomfortable, but for those of us used to CAT 111 Hong Kong cinema, this won't be new territory. I saw "Hard Romantik" as a kind of 'primer' for harder, more adult gangster films like "Ichi the Killer." But this is a solid, highly entertaining delinquent/gangster movie in it's own right, and I am surprised that it is not more well-known.