Tokyo Tribe (Tokyo Toraibu).

Sono Sion’s battle rap musical is a violently cool sexy and insane movie, although I’m sure many will find it tacky and offensive. But any devotees of the cult director work, which has included Love Exposure (2008) Guilty of Romance (2011) and of course Cold Fish (2011), will have a grand idea of what to expect. Written and directed by the Japanese filmmaker Tokyo Tribe (2014) is a live action adaptation of the legendary seinen manga series Tokyo Tribe 2 by Santa Inoue.

Lord Buppa shows off his weapon. 

Mrs Lord Buppa gives a helping hand. 

Mira gets cross.

Set in Tokyo in the near future. The opening segment sets out how the city is controlled by 23 rival gangs known as tribes. Each is different from the next but the most powerful Tribe is led by Lord Buppa a morbidly, bisexual crime lord with a lecherous sadistic personality and a depraved son who collection of ‘live’ furniture beats anything Ikea can provide. Mera and his Wu-Ronz gang back up Buppa. But when Mera’s hatred for the Musashino-Saru kingpin Kai boils over its time for the Tribes to pick sides. If I were to tell you that before the brilliantly choreographed final battle take’s place we are treated to some complete mayhem involving a High Priest who wants to sacrifice and his virgin daughter Erika who you can imagine is not keen on the idea, a wonderful mobile phone in the shape of a gun, leather clad female warriors, Day-Glo captions and dialogue like ‘it ain’t the size of a mans penis that makes him great but the size of his heart’ something I’m sure would make a great discussion down your local pub. 

 

Will the Leather Clad warrior chief join with the other tribes....

.... to fight a common enemy?

Said to be the world’s first battle rap musical most of the dialogue is ‘spoken’ in rap backed up by a pulsating rap soundtrack and some Clockwork Orange type Beethoven interludes. As far as political correctness is concerned this movie is way off the scale but for this blogger its exciting, full of fun and a great addition to Sion’s body of work. Fans I’m sure will love it.

Lesson of Evil (Aku no kyoten)

Probable not the most politically correct movie, but then when was Takashi Miike a politically correct director? The films I have seen by this enfant terrible of Japanese film could never really be classed as making films ‘in the best possible taste’, including two films that are absolutely unmissable, Audition (1999), which established Miike’s reputation as a director who was more than willing to cross excepted boundaries, and the outrageously violent gangster movie Ichi the Killer (2001).

In 2012 he made Lesson of Evil or as it was known in its country of origin Aku no kyoten which was described by Mark Player in his Midnight Eye end of year report as perhaps the directors ‘most gleefully sadistic outing since Ichi’ and compared it to other films in the great mans body of work including Visitor Q (2001), Dead or Alive (1999) and Gozu (2003). And politically correct it isn’t, being about a killing spree of pupils in a High School, something that has happened in the USA and the UK and not forgetting the mass killing of 69 participants of the Workers Youth League summer camp by the far right terrorists Anders Behring Breivik on the Norwegian island of Utoya in July 2011.

The films narrative possess the question ‘do you know the difference between right and wrong’ and involves a charismatic English teacher Seiji Hasumi who charms his way into the hearts, minds and in some cases the body’s of his young charges. But unbeknown to both pupils and the school authorities Hasumi, played brilliantly by Hideaki Ito who had worked with the director previously in Sukiyaki Western Django in 2007, is a seasoned psychopath who is prepared to go to great lengths to solve what he perceives to be wrong with the school.

Based on the novel Aku no Kyoten by Yusuke Kishi (first published serially from July, 2008 to July, 2010 in monthly magazine "Betsatsu Bungeishunju" and then published in novel form on July 30, 2010 by Bungeishunju). This is the first time that Miike has been totally responsible for a script; previously he has been in partnership with other writers.

This is a profoundly violent movie but one from which you can never divert your attention even with the prior knowledge that what your watching has been panned by the critics, not because it’s a badly made or acted film, which it certainly isn’t, but because it has been deemed as unacceptable subject matter. One thing you can be sure of is that it will not be the last time Miike produces something that upsets staid cinemagoers!

Trapped in Lust (Aiyoku no wana)

Included as an extra on the Branded to Kill  Blu-ray release is Trapped in Lust (1973) it’s described as ‘a delirious roman porno re-imagining of Branded to Kill’. Directed by Atsushi Yamotoya’s who also co-scripted the film along with Yozo Tanaka both of whom are Seijun Suzuki’s regular collaborators.  It’s basically the same story, but with more sex and in colour. Again we get the hit man Hoshi and his sex mad wife - who he is paid to kill! After the contract is completed he takes solace in the arms of three naked women and lots of booze.  But he soon discovers his wife is still alive - that is until a giant hit man in a Bogart trench coat called Saigo, who is accompanied by a life size female ventriloquist doll called Mario; drown the woman in a bath! 

 

Hitman Hoshi.....

....takes solace in the arms of three women.

This was Yamotoya’s fourth and final film, one that was “lost” for twenty years. It stars Moeko Ezawa as Mayuko and Genjiro Arato as ‘Hitman’ Hoshi.

 

A grown up puppet show!

I am sure those of you who treat themselves to a viewing of this movie will make up their own mind about its true meaning. You may see the paranoia and schizophrenia of the people on the very edge of Japanese society, you may see redemptive factors rather than simply more killings, more naked ladies and lots more sex along a large dose of black humour which punctuate this crazy action packed movie. Let me know?

Branded to Kill (Koroshi no Rakuin)

This Japanese monochrome film from 1967 is a mix of French New Wave and European art house in its approach. From this you can probable tell it is not strictly a Yakuza or a gang style film? With its irregular narrative, a subject matter that involves death, sex, water and the smell of boiling rice (our main character gets a hard on from the smell of rice cooking!) director Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill can legitimately be described as a wee bit of an odd ball amongst the Japanese gangster genre and for this reason was not treated by the Nikkatsu Corporation, who financed 40 of Suzuki's films in 12 years, with the reverence it deserved, although it does include the normal gangland ethic of eat or be eaten and of course the normal macho posturing of men with guns. In fact the company sacked their long-standing director saying that this latest film made no sense and no money. Suzuki did not direct another film for ten years!

 

Hit Man Hanada.

The deadly Misako.

Koroshi no Rakuin is now regarded as a timeless classic, and amongst many of its admirers, which includes John Woo, Park Chan-wook and Quentin Tarantino, a cult movie. It involves ganglands self-employed hit men who for the right amount of money will happily kill people. These men are ranked in a strictly graded hierarchy with the story's main character Goro Hanada (Jo Shishido) ranked as Number Three. He is married to a nymphomaniac, who runs around there flat completely starker’s, and with whom he indulges in various sexual shenanigans.  Things start to get weirder for Goro when the deadly Misako (the exotic Annu Mari) turns up to offer him a “kill or be killed” contract, and his wife is secretly hired by the mob boss to kill him!

 

The butterfly effect!

Suzuki admits that he is happy to forgo realism for entertainment, which is certainty not to the detriment of this movie.  It a film that cannot necessary be placed in any location and with its sultry 60’s jazz soundtrack and stunning cinematography by the Suzuki regular Kazue Nagatsuka deserves its re-release this year (2014).

Shady.

A new young Japanese director that you may not of heard of, Ryohei Watanebe was 23 years old when he wrote the script; a year later he started to make Shady (2012). Up until then he had only made short films, none of which had a running time of more 5 minutes. Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder (2003) influenced the young director in how he seemingly made a quite ordinary murder story into a very interesting and entertaining movie. Watanebe is reputed to be obsessive about small details even teaching our two none smoking actresses to smoke properly! But because of his lack of experience and contact’s, he got his crew together using social media, advertising on the Internet!

 

The lonely Misa Kumada.... 

The theme of his debut feature film is friendship. This can be very important when you are a young high school student, and when you finally acquire a friend you tend to forgive them anything to maintain a closeness. Our story starts life as a simple, somewhat sensitive tale of two high school student’s who are complete opposites but despite, or perhaps because of outside influences, become friends. Misa Kumada is a lonely girl, disliked and ridiculed by her insensitive classmates because of her appearance. The only time she can let down her guard down is when she is tending her pet parrot or the gold fish in the science lab at the High School. Although somewhat puzzled by the interest shown in her by the good-looking Izumi Kiyose, Misa happily accepts the hand of friendship shown by this popular girl and is excited by the prospect of having a real friend for the first time in her life. But is the angelic Izumi all she seems - her demeanour gradually turning darker and one of the other students goes missing!

 

Izumi Kiyose....

....shares Misa's goldfish.

Originally a musician/singer, whose song Chameleon is used for the closing credits, Tokyo born Mimpi B, in her first acting role plays Misa Kumada. It was after Watanabe saw her perform at one of her concerts that he asked her to appear in the movie. Izumi Okamura who plays the role of Izumi Kiyose was previously a model for a magazine for 18 months. It was during this period that a friend suggested she audition for an actress role that lead to an appearance in a 30-minute student film which in turn brought her to the attention of Ryohei Watanebe. 

 

Izumi gets ever closer!

Both actresses admitted that the director was pretty hard on them but it paid off with both giving performances well beyond their limited experience. The film, which proves that friendship is not all its cracked up to be, starts quite slowly and it not until you’re a fair way into it that it really starts to take off, but believe me its well worth staying with it. A movie with a certain beauty that’s not always apparent. Probably needs watching more than once?

 

The director with his two main actresses.