Warchild : Genre : Y

Theatrical: 1973

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 99

Summary: While "The Godfather" romanticized the American Mafia in the early 1970s, Kinji Fukasaku's five-film series known as "The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor & Humanity" revolutionized the Japanese "yakuza" film with unprecedented intensity. A post-World War II epic that broke Japanese box-office records, this complex, utterly authentic cycle of gangster films replaced the popular "ninkyo" or "chivalry" films of the '60s with "jitsuroku", an entirely new breed of gangster film that rose from the ashes of Hiroshima and post-war reconstruction, depicting a meticulously detailed "alternate history" (as Japanese film expert Tom Mes observes in the accompanying booklet) that had been ignored by the "official" factual record. Beginning with 1973's "Battles Without Honor and Humanity" and continuing through four hugely popular sequels, these are bracingly intricate studies in shifting loyalties and gangland chaos, tracking the "yakuza" career of Shozu Hirono (played by charismatic star Bunta Suguwara), who rises from lowly soldier status in 1946 to "sworn brotherhood" and respected retirement in 1970. Across this quarter-century of death, power, and betrayal, Fukasaku orchestrates nearly 50 characters in four major cities, all vying for dominance in a familial structure so complex that a helpful flow-chart is provided to follow the shifting balance of power.
Western viewers may struggle with the social context of these films, but as a gangster epic of escalating scope and power, "The Yakuza Papers" offers a universally energizing DVD experience. Fukasaku (who died in January 2003 while filming his 62nd film, "Battle Royale II") was a master of cinematic pulp, and these films represent the pinnacle of his frenetic, deliberately chaotic hand-held camera style, which strongly influenced American urban crime films of the '70s (as "French Connection" director William Friedkin notes on the feature-packed supplement disc). Rough-edged and thematically rich, the five films presented here--all in pristine digital transfers and brilliantly translated by ace subtitler Linda Hoaglund--combine to form a sprawling milestone of Japanese cinema. Home Vision's packaging and comprehensive supplements pay honorable tribute to Fukasaku's achievement, with bonus features that provide all the necessary background needed to fully appreciate "The Yakuza Papers" as a raw, ambitious masterpiece that fully deserves its widespread acclaim. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1973

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 100

Summary:

Theatrical: 1973

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 119

Summary: The decline of eastern civilization

Theatrical: 1974

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 118

Summary: Terrific fourth installment is a violent, bloody epic

Theatrical: 1974

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 100

Summary: Jingi naki tatakai: Kanketsu-hen-A classic, unforgettable piece of cinema wraps up

Theatrical: 1989

Studio: Paramount

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 125

Summary: Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. In Japan, however, he manages to escape. As they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game the Japanese way.

Theatrical: 1998

Studio:

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 107

Summary: Ambitious yakuza Kenji befriends harmonica-playing bartender Chuji, who moonlights as a part-time drug-dealer for the opposing gang. Their friendship is threatened by Kenji's plans for advancement, as well as by his bodyguard's growing jealousy of Chuji.

Theatrical: 1965

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 90

Summary:

Theatrical: 1966

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 90

Summary:

Theatrical: 1966

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 90

Summary:

Theatrical: 1967

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 90

Summary:

Theatrical: 2000

Studio: Chimera

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 103

Summary: Japanese-Brazilian Mario (Teah) and Chinese hairdresser Kei (Michele Reis) are lovers. Kei is about to be deported. He manages to escape. His plan is to get passports and stow away on a ship headed for a foreign country. With his girlfriend he tries to steal money from the mafia. Instead he gets cocaine which he sells. But Kei is captured by Yakuza and he must save her...

Theatrical: 2009

Studio: Criterion

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 90

Summary: From the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, wild, idiosyncratic crime movies were the brutal and boisterous business of Nikkatsu, the oldest film studion in Japan. In an effort to attract youthful audiences growing increasingly accustomed to American and French big-screen imports, Nikkatsu began producing action potboilers (mukokuseki akushun, or borderless action) modeled on the western, comedy, gangster, and teen-rebel genres. This bruised and bloody collection represents a standout cross section of the nimble nasties Nikkatsu had to offer, from such prominent, stylistically daring directors as Seijun Suzuki, Toshio Masuda, and Takashi Nomura.
One of Japanese cinema's supreme emulations of American noir, Takashi Nomura's A Colt Is My Passport is a down-and-dirty but gorgeously photographed yakuza film starring Joe Shishido as a hard-boiled hit man caught between rival gangs. Featuring an incredible, spaghetti-western-style soundtrack and brimming with formal experimentation, this is Nikkatsu at its finest.

Theatrical: 1975

Studio: Kino Video

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 100

Summary: Kinji Fukasawa (BATTLE ROYALE) directs this gritty yakuza tale, set in Kurashima City in the 1960s. An effort by the police to clean up the streets has resulted in a tenuous peace, but when the leader of the Ohara gang lands in prison, the rival Kawade gang decides to strike. The temporary leader of the Ohara family calls upon a childhood friend, now a cop, for help, and soon it's difficult to tell which side of the law anyone is working on.

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Tristone Entertainment Inc.

Genre: Yakuza

Summary: Prolific maverick director Miike Takashi certainly kept the masses happy in 2007 with the release of three high-profile ready-made cult films. Sukiyaki Western Django and Like a Dragon both had enough Miike magic to spare, but it's Crows Zero that comes out on top of the heap as the auteur's most commercially successful film to date. Thanks to his extreme themes and even more extreme presentation, Miike alienates as much as he attracts, but he's got a legitimate box office hit on his hands with Crows Zero. Based on Takahashi Hiroshi's bestselling manga Crows, Crows Zero takes Miike to familiar territory - high school gang violence - and he cuts through the subject matter at high-octane speed for a stylized, action-packed, and entertaining schoolyard brawl of a movie.



Delving into the hyper-stylized world of feuding high school gangs, Crows Zero actually takes place before the events of the manga (hence the title), setting up the origins and rivalries of the iconic characters. Other than the avid fanbase that already exists for the manga, Crows Zero gets some extra box office pull with the casting of heartthrobs Oguri Shun (Kisaragi) and Yamada Takayuki (Train Man) as the lead delinquents. Oguri, who also featured in Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django, continues to impress as one of Japanese cinema's most talented young stars, while Yamada Takayuki leaves behind the sensitive romantic lead image he's cultivated from numerous tearjerkers for a hard-hitting bout in the ring. Rounding out the film's problem teenager cast are Yabe Kyousuke (Dead or Alive, Kids Return), Kuroki Meisa (Under the Same Moon), and Izaki Yusuke and Izaki Hisato from boy band Flame.



Takaya Genji (Oguri Shun) just transferred to Suzuran, a high school notorious for its gang violence. At Suzuran High, hallways are battle zones, bloody brawls are everyday occurrences, and student life is dominated by the political winds of the school's many factions. Genji didn't end up here by accident though. He's here to do what even his yakuza father (Kishitani Goro) couldn't accomplish years before - rule the school. Already stirring up a storm on the first day, Genji is determined to fight his way up the pecking order and unite the gangs. But not if alpha crow Serizawa Tamao (Yamada Takayuki) has anything to say about it.







This Premium Edition comes with a <b>booklet</b>, <b>postcards</b> (set of 5), and the following special features:

<lI>Making Of

<lI>TVnavi Program

<lI>Stage Meet & Greet

<lI>Trailer, Teaser & TV Spot

<li>Cast & Crew Profile

Theatrical: 2009

Studio: Akita Publishing

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 133

Summary: Genji and his victorious G.P.S. alliance find themselves facing down a new challenge by the students of Hosen Academy, feared by everyone as 'The Army of Killers.' The two schools, in fact, have a history of bad blood between them. And the simmering embers of hatred are about to flare up again, burning away any last remnants of the truce they had so rigorously observed until now.

Theatrical: 2009

Studio: Criterion

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 90

Summary: Ultra cool Japanese caper film

Theatrical: 2002

Studio: Tokyo Shock

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 96

Summary: After Kunisada (Riki Takeuchi)'s Yakuza leader and father figure is brutally murdered, he and his best friend (Kenichi Endo) go on a two-man mission to avenge his death, killing other Yakuza leaders leading to a final confrontation by the old man's killers.

Theatrical: 1969

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 89

Summary:

Theatrical: 1973

Studio: Panik House

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 86

Summary: Yasagure anego den: sôkatsu rinchi

Theatrical: 1998

Studio: New Yorker Video

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 103

Summary: A superstar and cultural icon in his native Japan, Takeshi "Beat" Kitano has conquered more than one medium, but he is best known in the West for his remarkable films. Among those, "Fireworks" is the clear favorite, a taut and enigmatic noir that fluctuates between perfect stillness and savage eruptions of violence.
Kitano plays a cop named Nishi, a determinedly impassive man whose face occasionally ripples with an involuntary tic, hinting at the explosive but contained forces within. Nishi's wife (Kayato Kishimoto) is dying of leukemia, a disease that already killed their child, and he cares for her with a shattering tenderness. While on a stakeout, Nishi takes a break to check in on her, and while he's gone his partner is crippled and another officer is killed. With death hovering at home and a score to settle outside, Kitano's hero sets off on an isolated course to seek justice.
Few filmmakers have understood as well as Kitano has here the irresistible draw of a thriller told with a moody calmness, with an eye toward graceful construction and rigorous composition. The careful, unhurried dispensing of story information also helps keep the focus on Nishi's warrior soul, on his mysterious capacity for the extremes of gentleness and brutality. The story here is the way one man can be the sum of such bold contradictions, and a great story it is. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 1971

Studio:

Genre: Yakuza

Summary: In the 1970s, the Japanese youth emancipation also found it's way into the yakuza (crime) societies. A Girl Boss may have a choice between bikes, and between boyfriends. But she has to defend her choices the hard way, as her triumph and power over the girls' gang is questioned by her female rivals, and the all powerful Yakuza Boss. She inspires loyalty to her girls, and to men to the extent of many of them literally giving their lives for her - in a world of knife and gun fighting, bike and car chasing, and violent death.

Theatrical: 1998

Studio: Bunkasha

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 109

Summary: Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned and the men find themselves hunted down by contract killers.

Theatrical: 2003

Studio: Pathfinder Home Ent.

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 129

Summary: From the acclaimed director, Takashi Miike, comes a Yakuza/horror film to shock and amaze audiences everywhere! When Minami is sent to kill his mentor, Ozaki, who is in the midst of a nervous breakdown, he embarks on a journey of unexplained natural phenomenon that only the director of such films as Audition, Dead or Alive and Ichi the Killer can provide in this surreal Lynchian/Cronenberg-like odyssey!

Theatrical: 1975

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 94

Summary: A look at the life of renegade yakuza, Rikio Ishikawa, particularly the years from 1946 to 1950 when his violent antics get him in trouble with his own clan, Kawada, and then with the clan of his protector, Kozaburo Imai. In these years, he can rely on Chieko, a young Tokyo courtesan who gives him shelter. He's banished to Osaka, where he picks up a drug habit. Through it all, he keeps his friends and enemies off balance with unpredictable behavior - and he seems indestructible.

Theatrical: 2002

Studio: ANIMEIGO

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 131

Summary: Rikuo Ishimatsu is a lowly dishwasher who unknowingly saves the life of a Yakuza Oyabun (Boss) and quickly rises to a position of power in his gang. Loyally supporting his Oyabun and his brother gangsters, Ishimatsu wreaks havoc on anyone who stands in their way, inevitably earning himself a trip to the slammer.

Theatrical: 1971

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 89

Summary: Featuring famous singer Saburo Kitajima's theatrical debut, HONOR AMONG BROTHERS is considered a masterpiece among the lucky few that have seen it, and also features a star-studded cast including Hiroki Matsukata, Hideo Murata, and Koji Tsuruta. The story takes place in the Taisho Era when horse-drawn carriages were still common. Two local yakuza families, the Naruko and the Kito, could never solve their dispute over the popular hot springs of Kusama Inn. Meanwhile, Katsuji Kijima arrives from Hokkaido to find his estranged mother and accepts the hospitality from the Naruko Family. Soon, the boss of the Naruko swears in Katsuji as a brother and is brutally murdered by the Kito Family. With an irresistible desire to avenge his slain brother in the name of justice, Katsuji makes up his mind and draws his silver sword...

Theatrical:

Studio:

Genre: Yakuza

Summary: Hailed by critics as the new wave of Japanese film noir! Last Drop of Blood is the new yakuza gangster movie by Yasushi Akimoto. A thrilling tale of Japanese gang wars with balletic gunfights. This is the kind of movie John Woo would be making if he were still working in Hong Kong. The Gun Index in the Special Features is particularly cool. It gives a detailed technical description of all the guns used in the movie. After seeing the description, one can directly view the scene in which that particular gun is used.

After serving a jail sentence, a former leading yakuza (Takaaki Ishibashi) has gone straight. He has married and is now holding a regular job. However, he is continually harrassed by a police inspector who cannot forgive his past. Meanwhile a major gang war erupts. With his former gang in danger of being exterminated, will his loyalties draw him back in?

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: Suplex

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 158

Summary: Fight for love, Die for love. The world where everything is settled by bullets. Sex, ultra violence, and bowling. No limits. No brakes. Witness the war of love that no one has ever seen. Can you die for love?

Theatrical: 1974

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 98

Summary: The return to Hiroshima

Theatrical: 1975

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 94

Summary: The violence continues

Theatrical: 1985

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 146

Summary: Onimasa is the egocentric boss of a powerful yakuza (Japanese mafia) clan on Shikoku island, and the last heir to a family of samurai. His struggles with his enemy Yakuza and the tumultuous life of his adopted daughter, Matsue, form the backdrop of this epic tale of justice, obedience, and bloody revenge.

Theatrical: 2001

Studio: Tokyo Shock

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 112

Summary:

Theatrical: 1998

Studio:

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 85

Summary:

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Tokyo Shock

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 104

Summary: In the beginning of the 18th Century, Lord Sodomu Ichibei is celebrating the happiest days of his life, his wedding day. However, things turn tragic as his wife suddenly dies during the ceremony. Enraged, Ichibei searches for an explanation, eliminating anyone he believes responsible for his bride's death. Two innocent girls, Catherine and Therese, are targeted by Ichibei's allegations. Ichibei believing them to be the culprits tortures and kills them. The innocent bloodshed, elicits a curse placed on the Sodomu family.

Theatrical: 1993

Studio: Buena Vista

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 94

Summary: A world-weary yakuza in Tokyo is assigned to take his clan to Okinawa to help settle a dispute between two factions. He's suspicious of the assignment, but he goes, and within a couple days, his role remains unclear and several of men are dead. He retreats to a house on a remote beach to wait. The first night there , he rescues a young woman from an assault, and they develop a playful relationship. Over time, it becomes clear he's been set up, sent to Okinawa so that others can take over his lucrative territory. As his clan dwindles, he plans a revenge. But, what if he's successful? What is there to life anyway?

Theatrical: 1971

Studio: Home Vision

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 93

Summary: From Kinji Fukasaku ("Battles Without Honor & Humanity") comes this pivotal early crime drama in the celebrated career of the director who changed the face of Japanese action cinema. Stylish and hard-boiled, "Sympathy for the Underdog" stars Koji Tsuruta, one of Japan's seminal figures in the Yakuza genre, as Gunji, an aging Yakuza who is released from prison after ten years. Gunji lives by a code of honor that has no place among Tokyo's modern corporate gangs. He gets a new lease on life by reforming his former gang and taking over the whiskey trade on the island of Okinawa. But he is forced to make a final, fateful, bloody stand against the mainland gang that sent him to prison.

Theatrical: 1958

Studio: Home Vision

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 87

Summary:

Theatrical: 1971

Studio: Toho

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 131

Summary: Hideo Gosha's superb Yakuza action drama about a gang member, who after his release from jail, returns to his friends. There he finds that a feud between his gang and a rival has been resolved by the intervention of a corrupt third party. A superbly photographed film noir that stylishly mixes bloodshed and drama.

Theatrical: 1974

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 123

Summary: Harry Kilmer returns to Japan after several years in order to rescue his friend George's kidnapped daughter - and ends up on the wrong side of the Yakuza, the notorious Japanese mafia...

Theatrical: 1997

Studio: Arts Magic

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 110

Summary: Director Rokuro Mochizuki ( ONIBI - THE FIRE WITHIN ) presents to us a fiery story of love blossoming in the strangest of places. His trademark directorial style concentrates on the personal interplay of the lovers, Kinichi, a yakuza enforcer and Yoko, a timid waitress. After a rocky start, a loving relationship develops between them, thanks partly to the mixing drugs with a kidnapping! Kinichi vows to clean up his act but the drugs begin to take effect, sending Kinichi and Yoko on a downward spiral with only their love left to hold them together.

Theatrical: 1969

Studio: Toei

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 96

Summary: Tales of death and dishonour in the Yakuza

Theatrical: 1963

Studio: Criterion

Genre: Yakuza

Duration: 92

Summary: Joe Shishido plays a tough guy with a secret agenda. His violent behavior comes to the attention of a yakuza boss who immediately recruits him. He soon tries to make a deal with a rival gang a starts a gang war. His real motivations are gradually revealed as we find out how this all ties in with the murder of a policeman shown at the beginning of the film.