Yakuza Law Blu-ray Review
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, May 9, 2019
It's always great to have a Jasper Sharp commentary to listen to on releases of Asian cinema fare, and Sharp provides another informational
smorgasbord with his analysis of
Yakuza Law, another near delirious effort from the often provocative Teruo Ishii. One of the things Sharp
mentions early in his commentary is a reminder to fans that the very word
yakuza consists of three phonemes which in turn indicate "eight,
nine, three", one of the worst possible hands in a Japanese gambling game. That allusion may tend to point out as well as anything the risk anyone
takes in either becoming a
yakuza or (perhaps even more so) daring to
cross a gang member. As such, the opening credits
montage of
Yakuza Law plays like a "greatest hits" of sorts documenting all kinds of carnage visited on unfortunate victims who for one
reason or another have run afoul of folks with some
very energetic retribution strategies at their beck and call. While
some of
those graphic images are repeated (and in at least some cases, lengthened) later in the film,
Yakuza Law also includes a number of
other potentially squirm worthy moments that aren't even hinted at in the early going. What's kind of fascinating about all of this is that Ishii
almost seems to be indulging in a kind of cheeky "the more things change, the more they stay the same" approach in that
Yakuza Law
spans vast time frames of several centuries, even if the feral tendencies of various gang members remain rather disturbingly constant.
Any lover of Japanese cult cinema already familiar with Teruo Ishii through such efforts as
Horrors of Malformed Men and/or
Blind Woman's Curse, will probably already be well aware that this particular
auteur can bring a
positively gonzo outlook to his films, but in this particular
instance it's tied rather graphically to elements that might be best summed up by the title of another Ishii film (and quasi-series),
Shogun's
Joys
of Torture. In other words,
Yakuza Law is a film that virtually wallows in injuries being inflicted on various hapless souls, to the
point
that any narrative "through line" may be a moot point in a way.
That narrative "through line" contains a structural conceit in this film whereby all of the "joys of torture" being inflicted take place over three
different
time periods, though
what exactly Ishii is trying to say in this regard frankly eluded me. It's an arguably obvious point that
yakuza
can be violent, morally depraved sorts, but casting these vignettes over various eras, especially with regard to the last of the three different
time periods, which
is
suddenly transported into near
James Bond
territory as the story wends its way toward "contemporary" (meaning late sixties) time, struck me as not particularly helpful. That said, the film's
basic premise is simplicity itself: if you deign to break "
yakuza law," you will undoubtedly pay a
very painful price.
The opening credits montage provides a number of fanciful examples of this premise, with grotesque (erotic grotesque?) maimings, slashings and
even burnings, and later escapades involve such "standards" as a pinkie being severed (and that's not even the
bad stuff in that
particular "episode"). (My personal favorite in the opening montage is a guy who has become impaled on the teeth of a backhoe bucket. That
must have taken some
work.) Some of the practical effects may be giggle provoking to some, with some obvious rubber prosthetics at
times and blood
that virtually approaches "Hammer" levels of redness and viscosity. Perhaps because of the cartoonish if still disturbing violence, the film doesn't
even pretend to develop much in the way of an emotional tether to many characters, perhaps strangely even those being forced to experience
untold horrors of physical punishment.
If the characters themselves may not ultimately hold a ton of interest (or at least emotional connection),
Yakuza Law does offer Bunta
Sugawara in the first (Edo set) vignette, Minoru Oki in the second (Meiji set) vignette, and Teruo Yoshida in the "modern day" third vignette, so
there is plenty of star power here for genre aficionados. Ishii also utilizes his widescreen framings in a consistently interesting manner, giving the
film some visual energy, if, that is, you're not viewing it from behind masking hands due to the graphic blood and gore being depicted.
Yakuza Law Blu-ray, Video Quality
Yakuza Law is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is another Toei offering
from Arrow that contains only pretty generic verbiage about the transfer in Arrow's insert booklet:
Yakuza Law is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and with its original mono sound. The film was remastered in high definition
and supplied for this release by Toei Company, Ltd.
Some of the Toei provided material to Arrow has been at least a little lackluster at times, but to my eyes this is one of the nicer looking releases of a
vintage Toei film. Though a tangential aside and not ultimately that important in terms of the overall presentation, and while still a little rough looking
when compared to the bulk of this presentation, even the opening Toei masthead is
not littered with scratches and noisy looking grain as in some other Toei high definition masters. Grain is still fairly heavy and even a bit "splotchy"
looking on the logo, but reverts to a more natural look once the film begins, though I wondered if perhaps some judicious high frequency filtering may
have been applied here, as grain isn't quite as gritty looking as I perhaps
injudiciously expected it to. Densities are generally very good
through the
presentation, though the palette looked just slightly faded at times, with a somewhat brown or even yellowish undertone. Clarity is a bit variable,
though it does appear that Ishii used diffusion filters a couple of times. The outdoor material really pops surprisingly well, with deeply blue skies and
nicely lush green foliage. Fine detail levels are generally good as well, offering precise looks at the well done sets and costumes. There are really no
major signs of damage or age related wear and tear. Grain resolution
encounters no compression anomalies.