As a loyal soldier in the Togiku branch of the Yakuza, "Egawa" (Noboru Andô) is sent to prison for his actions during a gang war. Upon being released 8 years later he is awarded a nightclub in the Ginza strip as his severance package by the leader of the Togiku branch. Unfortunately, this decision doesn't last very long and soon Egawa begins getting pressured to give it back. Naturally, this causes some friction between Egawa and the Togiku clan which is further aggravated by the fact that while he was in prison Egawa's former girlfriend married the leader of the Togiku clan instead of waiting for his release. To make matters even worse, a rival Yakuza clan has decided to expand to Tokyo and as a result they demand to have Egawa's nightclub in the process-and this brings the two factions to war and puts Egawa right in the middle of it. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie started off somewhat confusing at first but things eventually became a bit clearer as the film progressed. In any case, while this certainly isn't a great gangster film by any means, it manages to entertain fairly well and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
2 Reviews
Hideo Gosha strikes again.
chaos-rampant13 August 2009
A first cursory look at VIOLENT STREETS makes it seem that Hideo Gosha reverted back to the programme genre pictures out of which emerged as a bonafide auteur and stylistic visionary five years earlier with bold ambitious jidaigekis like GOYOKIN and HITOKIRI, this time treading ground he never did before in his career, the yakuza picture. Looking closer it becomes obvious that VIOLENT STREETS is both. A genre picture and a stylistic exercise.
Different plot strands with which the avid genre fan will be familiar from prior cinematic knowledge, the rivalry between opposite yakuza groups, the new yakuzas trying to balance their past as street thugs with their future as incospicuous businessmen, the retired gangster forced back into action, a kidnapping gone awry, all these become entangled through a series of increasingly violent fights in the second third of the movie where VIOLENT STREETS inexorably emerges as a poignant revenge/ coming of age story.
What makes it so great is that VIOLENT STREETS remains powerful convincing and successful at all ends of the crime spectrum. As a twisty well oiled heist movie at first, a gritty revenge story, a sad coming of age tale by the end. From the wildly entertaining pure pulp of the first segment emerges a bittersweet humanism and a sense of duty ("some things a man can't ride around") and bonding between alienated male characters pushed on the side by a fast changing world, themes such as one would see in the films of Hellman, Peckinpah, or Boetticher. And to further the Peckinpah connection, Gosha does a few slow-motion shooting scenes that rank up there with the best of Sam's career.
If VIOLENT STREETS is a genre picture, a rollicking pulp extravaganza ultraviolent even to this day (killings are messy and gruelling), it's still done with a certain flair and class, this owing no doubt Gosha's talent that never allows the movie to descend into caricature. It might lack the social undertones of Kinji Fukasaku's best work (another master of crime cinema sorely neglected in the west) but I daresay meets it almost eye to eye for grit and violence.
Different plot strands with which the avid genre fan will be familiar from prior cinematic knowledge, the rivalry between opposite yakuza groups, the new yakuzas trying to balance their past as street thugs with their future as incospicuous businessmen, the retired gangster forced back into action, a kidnapping gone awry, all these become entangled through a series of increasingly violent fights in the second third of the movie where VIOLENT STREETS inexorably emerges as a poignant revenge/ coming of age story.
What makes it so great is that VIOLENT STREETS remains powerful convincing and successful at all ends of the crime spectrum. As a twisty well oiled heist movie at first, a gritty revenge story, a sad coming of age tale by the end. From the wildly entertaining pure pulp of the first segment emerges a bittersweet humanism and a sense of duty ("some things a man can't ride around") and bonding between alienated male characters pushed on the side by a fast changing world, themes such as one would see in the films of Hellman, Peckinpah, or Boetticher. And to further the Peckinpah connection, Gosha does a few slow-motion shooting scenes that rank up there with the best of Sam's career.
If VIOLENT STREETS is a genre picture, a rollicking pulp extravaganza ultraviolent even to this day (killings are messy and gruelling), it's still done with a certain flair and class, this owing no doubt Gosha's talent that never allows the movie to descend into caricature. It might lack the social undertones of Kinji Fukasaku's best work (another master of crime cinema sorely neglected in the west) but I daresay meets it almost eye to eye for grit and violence.
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