Yakuza film
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Yakuza eiga, or yakuza films, are a popular genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of yakuza, also referred to as the Japanese Mafia.
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[edit] Ninkyo film
Ninkyo eiga, or "chivalry films", were the first type of yakuza films. Most were produced by the Toei studio in the 1960s. The kimono-clad yakuza hero of the ninkyo films (personified by the stoic Ken Takakura) was always portrayed as an honorable outlaw torn between the contradictory values of giri (duty) and ninjo (personal feelings).
[edit] Jitsuroku film
In the 1970s, a new breed of yakuza eiga emerged, the jitsuroku eiga, or "true document film". Many jitsuroku eiga were based on true stories, and filmed in a documentary style. This genre was popularized by Kinji Fukasaku's groundbreaking yakuza epic Battles Without Honor and Humanity. This film, which spawned four sequels, portrayed the post-War yakuza not as the honorable heirs to the samurai code, but as ruthless, treacherous street thugs. The films star Bunta Sugawara (often thought of as the anti-Ken Takakura) as a sneering ex-soldier who rises to power in the bombed-out Hiroshima underworld.
[edit] Modern yakuza film
In the 1990s, yakuza movies in Japan declined. Now, many are low-budget direct-to-video movies. One exception has been the critically acclaimed films of Takeshi Kitano, whose existential yakuza movies are well known around the world.
[edit] Prominent yakuza film actors
[edit] Selected films
- Tattooed Life (Seijun Suzuki, 1962)
- Pale Flower (Masahiro Shinoda, 1964)
- Tokyo Drifter (Seijun Suzuki, 1966)
- Battles Without Honor and Humanity (Kinji Fukasaku, 1973)
- The Yakuza (Sydney Pollack, 1975)
- Black Rain (Ridley Scott, 1989)
- Minbo (Juzo Itami, 1992)
- Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano, 1993)
- Brother (Takeshi Kitano, 2000)
[edit] Bibliography
- Mark Schilling (2003). The Yakuza Movie Book : A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 1-880656-76-0.
[edit] In Popular Culture
In The O.C., character Seth Cohen is said to be a major fan of Yakuza films as mentioned in several episodes.
[edit] External links
- Yakuza Eiga - Informational website
- Guide to Yakuza Movies at yakuza Japanese
