2 Yakuza Graveyard

[domino harvey]

Yakuza Graveyard



When he falls for the beautiful wife of the jailed boss of the Nishida gang, things start to spiral out of control for detective Kuroiwa (Tetsuya Watari, Graveyard of Honour). In a world where the line between police and organised crime is vague, he finds himself on the wrong side of a yakuza war when his superiors favour Nishida's rivals, the Yamashiro gang. Co-starring the iconic Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood) and featuring Nagisa Oshima as chief of police, Yakuza Graveyard sees director Kinji Fukasaku (Battles without Honour and Humanity) at the peak of his powers.

Limited Edition Special Features:

• High-Definition digital transfer
• Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Appreciation by filmmaker Kazuya Shiraishi (2022)
• The Rage and the Passion - A visual essay by critic Tom Mes on Meiko Kaji and Kinji Fukasaku's collaborations (2022)
• Gallery of promotional imagery
• Easter Egg
• Trailer
• Newly translated English subtitles
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mika Ko on the representations of Koreans in the yakuza film, and newly translated re-prints of a contemporary review and writing by screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara
• Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[Finch]

Slant review the Yakuza Graveyard disc.

It'll be my first viewing of the film and I'm ridiculously excited. The only reason I ordered from Radiance direct instead of a US retailer was to get the May bundle with the Truffaut, and they haven't started shipping those yet. I have however seen Sympathy for the Underdog years ago on the old US HVE DVD and I'm hoping that that film will be among their next Japanese titles.

[colinr0380]

Agreed, although the real outlier of those Fukasaku titles that HvE released on DVD in the 2000s that I would love to be high on Radiance's list (especially for a first release of any kind in the UK) would be Under The Flag of The Rising Sun, co-written with Kaneto Shindo.

[dwk]

Under The Flag of The Rising Sun is a Toho title. So I wouldn't hold my breath.

I think the HVE dvd was one of the Classics Collection, which were Janus titles released through HVE, but I don't know if it is still with Janus or not. (Fukasaku's Fall Guy is and is streaming on the channel.)

[rapta]

Most likely any more Fukasaku coming from Radiance will come from their Toei deal; I'm hoping in particular for Wolves, Pigs & Men, Sympathy for the Underdog and Hokuriku Proxy War, but there are several others of interest too (The Threat, Japan Organised Crime Boss, Bloodstained Clan Of Honour, Outlaw Killers: Three Mad Dog Brothers, Gambling Den Heist etc).

I imagine Eureka will go for other things like Shogun’s Samurai and The Fall of Ako Castle (and perhaps Violent Panic: The Big Crash).

[Calvin]

Agreed, although the real outlier of those Fukasaku titles that HvE released on DVD in the 2000s that I would love to be high on Radiance's list (especially for a first release of any kind in the UK) would be Under The Flag of The Rising Sun, co-written with Kaneto Shindo.

It's a shame that there are so few Kaneto Shindo films proper available. Even in Japan, I don't think there have been any Blu-Ray releases or recent restorations.

[rapta]

Agreed, although the real outlier of those Fukasaku titles that HvE released on DVD in the 2000s that I would love to be high on Radiance's list (especially for a first release of any kind in the UK) would be Under The Flag of The Rising Sun, co-written with Kaneto Shindo.

It's a shame that there are so few Kaneto Shindo films proper available. Even in Japan, I don't think there have been any Blu-Ray releases or recent restorations.

I would love to see more, particularly things like Children of Hiroshima and Kanawa.

Perhaps more realistically we could see some more Shindo-written Masumura titles from Radiance at some point, assuming Arrow are done with those - namely The Precipice, The Lowest Man, Stolen Pleasure, Manji, Seisaku's Wife, Two Wives, The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka, and Thousand Cranes (and plenty he didn't write too that are worth getting as well, e.g. The Blue Sky Maiden, Afraid to Die, A Wife Confesses, A Woman's Life, Love and Greed etc). I did mention that in Fran's handwritten note there was a list of presumably director's names - 'ICH' (Ichikawa?), 'BUN' (Buñuel), 'SUZ' (Suzuki?), 'AGT' (??), 'SHIN' (Shinoda/Shindo?) - and the last one was 'MA? x2' which I figured could be potential Masumura box set(s) which would be very exciting if a possibility. Those Arrow discs are some of their only titles over the past few years I've felt any urgency to get hold of.

Any Daiei deal for the above could even get other Shindo-penned titles such as Black Lizard (Inoue) and The Graceful Brute (Kawashima) - or alternatively a Nikkatsu one could bag Fighting Elegy (Suzuki). Fingers crossed...

[Calvin]

Why more realistically? It doesn't seem to me that those Masamuras would have more commercial value

[rapta]

Why more realistically? It doesn't seem to me that those Masamuras would have more commercial value

Realistic purely in the sense that they're presumably more available to even consider - Daiei both seem to be taking good care of their Masumura titles and are willing to licensing them out to overseas companies like Arrow (and hopefully Radiance in the future). So probably more likely to appear anytime soon on Blu-ray than unrestored Shindo titles from who knows where (Toho could do Akuto and Live Today, Die Tomorrow!, but we have no idea if those are even on their agenda).

I didn't realise we were even discussing their commercial value/viability; if that was the case then surely more Fukasaku or Suzuki yakuza dramas would make more sense than anything from Masumura or Shindo.

To be fair, in my haste I didn't realise there are actually a couple of earlier Shindo titles over at Daiei that could be looked into: Story of a Beloved Wife and Lucky Dragon No 5.

[Calvin]

I didn't realise we were even discussing their commercial value/viability; if that was the case then surely more Fukasaku or Suzuki yakuza dramas would make more sense than anything from Masumura or Shindo.

I just assumed that's what you were getting at by saying they're more realistic, but I see your point now.

[therewillbeblus]

This movie is insane. I mistakenly expected something akin to Big Time Gambling Boss, and greatly appreciate Radiance choosing to release two yakuza films with essentially polar opposite approaches to their content. Big Time Gambling Boss was more philosophically contemplative, with richly textured themes and insights about systemic dynamics. It's a mature film, that elevates itself from genre. Yakuza Graveyard fatalistically nosedives into the muck genre, abandoning any sense of clarity towards its plot or characters, as it aggressively descends into the grime of convoluted chaos. I couldn't care less about the labyrinthine narrative or the characters' motivations in switching sides and reacting impulsively, because I was so focused on feeling the sensations of their tactile faculties, acute perceptions, and vulnerable emotions triggering and responding to those behaviors. Context loses significance when these people are this exhausted and in constant crisis, because the significance rests in the escalating tensions of behavioral fight/flight state. The film language communicates this so well - I don't know if I've ever seen a film in such a perpetual state of photographical pandemonium, where any internal logic to how the camera expresses violence, mayhem, or confusion is deserted. Even when two characters are sitting and having a conversation, the camera may be still or suddenly rock arrhythmically in a state of seasickness to mimic psychological or physiological disorder. I can't say I liked this as much as Big Time Gambling Boss, but it's a completely different film, with entirely separate agenda for what and how it's communicating information. If you want to see Style-Run-Riot to signify ultrasensory experience, look no further. I need a bath and a benzo, stat

[colinr0380]

Yakuza Graveyard got a slightly head-scratching review by Tony Rayns in this month's Sight & Sound where he seemed in such a hurry to suggest that "Kinji Fukasaku was largely unknown to Western fans of Japanese cinema until his last completed film, Battle Royale" that he seemed to forget that Fukasaku was one of the co-directors of the 1970 Pearl Harbor film Tora! Tora! Tora!, directing the Japanese sections of the film. Battle Royale may have eclipsed that now in terms of his fame, but Tora! Tora! Tora! still has the edge in terms of how much it has been shown on the television over the decades, at least in the UK!