Akiba Maid War was a series I came into this season out of curiosity, and which immediately demonstrated it was something that was absolutely my jam. There will be some spoilers in this review
Read moreAnime Review: Akiba Maid War
Massacre Gun: Film Review
Massacre Gun is the other kind of conventional Yakuza film – if Blind Woman’s Curse is all about the honor of the Yakuza Code triumphing over other dishonorable gangsters, Massacre Gun is about keeping to the code even, and especially if it means your death.
Read moreBlind Woman’s Curse: Film Review
When I was reviewing Yakuza films earlier on my show, after reviewing the Yakuza Papers series, and Outrage, I’d realized that I’d basically covered a bunch of deconstructions, without getting into what they were deconstructing.
Read moreVideo Review: Outrage
This time I have a video version of my review of Outrage.
Film Review: Outrage (2010)
If I was to summarize this film in one meme, it would be “That Escalated Quickly”, and I mean that very much in the original context where it’s used in Anchorman. Read more
Video Review: The Yakuza Papers Part 4 – Police Tactics
This time we continue with “The Yakuza Papers” with Part 4 – “Police Tactics” Read more
Video Review: The Yakuza Papers Part 3 – Proxy War
This time we continue with “The Yakuza Papers” with Part 2 – “Proxy War” Read more
Video Review: The Yakuza Papers Part 2 – Deadly Fight in Hiroshima
This time we continue with “The Yakuza Papers” with Part 2 – “Deadly Fight in Hiroshima” Read more
Video Review: The Yakuza Papers – Part 1
After my written reviews of the Yakuza Papers series, I’ve adapted them into a series of video reviews. Read more
Movie Review: The Yakuza Papers – Final Episode
It’s odd how much polish a film series can undergo over the course of two years. The first installment in the Yakuza Papers series of films came out in 1973. This film, the final installment in the tetralogy came out in 1974. Kinji Fukasaku was already an accomplished director when he made the first film, but over the course of two years he quickly came up with a very definitive style to this series. Read more
Film Review: The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 4: Police Tactics
The problem with getting into the later installments of the Yakuza Papers series of films is that by the later installments Kenji Fukasaku has gotten into a stylistic groove when it comes to what this series of films are – what they look like, what they sound like, and how their action is presented. Read more
Film Review: The Yakuza Papers Pt. 3 – Proxy War
Proxy War, along with the second film in the series, Hiroshima Deathmatch, are really where the Yakuza Papers series really kicks into high gear with showing the real nature of the Yakuza life. Where the sophomore film in the series introduced a new character, followed him through his induction into the yakuza, until his ultimate death, Proxy War returns us to following Bunta Sugawara’s character, Shozo Hirono, as factions within the old guard start playing the new generation of yakuza against each other, while Hirono himself tries to reconcile this current chain of events with the yakuza code of honor. Read more
Film Review: The Yakuza Papers Pt. 2 – Deadly Fight in Hiroshima
After the original The Yakuza Papers came out and did incredibly well at the box office, a sequel came out with a relatively fast turnaround. Unlike the first film, the sequel, Deadly Fight in Hiroshima, bypasses Bunta Sugawara’s character, Shozo Hirono (who does appear in this film as a cameo appearance), for a new character, and new story of induction into the world of the Yakuza.
Read more
Movie Review – The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 1: Battles Without Honor and Humanity
Due to the copyright strike on my Youtube channel, I’m going to hold off on doing film video reviews for the immediate future, aside from works from companies with a proven track record as being forgiving when it comes to film criticism (such as the Criterion Collection). However, I still want to keep talking about film so, for now, I’m going to do those review as prose reviews. If there is an interest from my Patreon Backers (which you can be one of), once the copyright strike is up, I’ll go back to re-do some or all these reviews as video reviews (depending on what films they’d like to see reviewed).
These reviews are also being posted on my Letterboxd page. I’m cross posting them here because I remember what happened to Screened, and I’d like to make sure I don’t lose any of my reviews.
With that out of the way, I’m taking a look at a Japanese Yakuza film from the 1970s – and the first part of the Yakuza Papers/Battles Without Honor Or Humanity series of films. Read more