Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects

It's been a couple days since I watched it, and I just had to let it sink in. Fans of the Bronson/Thompson pairing will know what to get (being no restrictions within a Cannon production), but for some particular reason it didn't hit home for me. Well not straight away. This is probably the pairs' most daring work (yeah more so than "The Evil That Men Do (1984)"), and fittingly the last they would make together in a technically well-made fable. What ruffled a lot of feathers when this came out was the exploitative topics at hand (child prostitution, repressed sexual desire and drug addiction), and the way they were handled and brought across. They are gruelling, stomach churning and sleazily downbeat, but never did it struck those cords with almighty, gut-busting force. The ugliness of these facets definitely creeps in, but the emotional drive while being there, feels quite thin with an uneasy and bitter underbelly taking hold.

Thompson's sufficiently polished direction (though a more raw edge to it would've been better) paints a rotten, grimy and scummy texture through heavy atmospheric vibes than anything visually punishing. Gideon Porath's leering cinematography streamlined the feature. For a Bronson film, action makes little head-way. Quite strange, but its slow going pace lets the basic premise evolve, with its two separate stories eventually interlocking with each other with a neat slice of irony and karma, which made the material not so predictable and largely authentic. However don't worry too much, as Bronson does gets his hands dirty, just the way we like it too. Serving out his 'own' unpleasant justice in few memorable sequences!

Some might say that Bronson in the latter end of his career (mainly through the 80s) made a living out of the same character and motivation. But an earnestly scathing script, helps give Bronson something interesting to work with (even a bit of western and eastern cross-culture differences plant themselves in early, and play a bigger part to story's progression) and makes for a weathered, but righteously hard-hitting performance of a multi-facet character. In support; Juan Hernandez's seedy pimp is a disturbingly slimy portrayal and James Pax's square Japanese businessman with an uncontrollable sexual urge effectively counter-punches Bronson and Hernandez's characters. None of these are clean characters, even though Bronson has the badge. He shows his insecurity, of the subject and uses it to make his actions justified. In the lesser co-starring roles is an exceptional Peggy Lipton as Bronson's wife. Perry Lopez is good in the loyal, but tired cop partner. An imposing Sy Richardson plays one of Hernandez's goons. Amy Hathaway shines as Bronson's on screen daughter and Kumiko Hayakawa impresses with a movingly gusty turn as the young kidnapped girl. As for Greg De Belles' funky music score, I found it sloppy and unsuited instead of sapping bleakness. I just wanted the musical pieces to get under my skin.

The dark, unsparing perverse tone doesn't make it enjoyable entertainment. However it really does linger on the mind, and holds a steady curiosity to it.

This is a pretty good movie, it is disturbing, dark, and depressing but these are things that happen in real life. We can't hide from these things, the movie is exposing the lifestyle of these scum and the man set out to destroy them. It's not Bronson's best movie but I thought it was pretty solid, I give it a 7.5/10. This movie is pretty underrated, it's such a good movie that touches on sensitive topics. People need to seriously stop being sensitive all the time and realize that the movie meant to expose these criminals. You can't just rate a movie low because it's depressing or doesn't fit your ideal world. the movie is about crime and that is what was shown here, you knew what you were getting into when you were going to watch this movie. You did read the synopsis, right?

Overall a pretty solid film, not the best but certainly not the worst.

When great director/actor combinations are talked about the team of J. Lee Thompson and Charles Bronson is not usually mentioned. Probably because the output of nine joint ventures between the two of them runs the gamut from the really good action entertainment to the mediocre. Unfortunately Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects falls in the latter.

That's sad because Kinjite could have been a whole lot better. But for the life of me I don't understand why it was necessary to make the father of the missing Japanese girl, a guy used to getting some cheap jollies because the romance in his marriage has run out. That might have been good for another film altogether, but it served no purpose here.

A straightforward cop drama with Charles Bronson as a vice cop who's seen a bit too much in his line of work and has a strong prejudice against orientals. That part could also have used a little explaining as well. But he's going to have to overcome it if he and patient partner Perry Lopez are going to locate a captured Japanese school girl.

Bronson's time in the vice squad have told him exactly where to look for the kidnapper. A stylish, murderous pimp played by Jaime Fernandez is the guy and he and Bronson have some history. In fact in the film's best scene, Bronson made him eat an expensive rolex watch and set his car on fire.

At one point Fernandez happens to spot Bronson and Lopez in an all night delicatessen and this being after his rolex snack, he sprays the place with an Uzi killing everyone, but Bronson and Lopez. I really think that little incident would have had more than a couple vice cops from the LAPD after Fernandez. But that's another terribly big hole in the plot.

Still there is a very rough justice in the end for Fernandez. I wish the whole film had been better though. This was the last film of the Bronson-Thompson team and J. Lee Thompson's last as a director. He should have gone out with something better.

Another in my personal film series revisiting the disreputable 80s subgenera of lurid crime films, all in preparation for the release of Ti West's third film in his X trilogy, MAXXXINE. Even by 80s standards, KINJITE: FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS is a creepy unsettling story about Charles Bronson breaking up an underage human trafficking ring in the Japanese American community. Forget about SOUND OF FREEDOM, Bronson told this story already back in the 80s! However, this is the Cannon Films exploitation version of human trafficking and was directed by frequent Bronson collaborator, J. Lee Thompson, who made some legit classic films, such as THE GUNS OF NAVARONE and the original version of CAPE FEAR, but spent the later part of his career doing some pretty brutal movies, including 10 TO MIDNIGHT and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (which has one the all-time best slasher film kills), but this film is particularly unpleasant and relishes in the seediness a bit too much for my liking. When Bronson takes down the baddies, it's very satisfying, but Thompson relishes in the unseemliness leading up to a bit too much, in what would be Thompson's final film. This was also Bronson's final film in his long streak of films for Cannon. Additionally, there was a movie trend around this time about the increasing power and influence of Japan on the United States, including classier films such as RISING SUN and BLACK RAIN (sure I'll throw in GUNG HO too), which sought to help their lead characters better understand Japanese culture and traditions. There were also more exploitative films exploring this same subject matter such as SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO and this film, which are more just openly racist. Still, despite the racism and the unpleasant subject matter, Bronson bringing scumbags to justice works pretty well for this film. Hardly a Bronson career highpoint, but better than most of his later career films. Also appearing in the film are Perry Lopez (CHINATOWN), Peggy Lipton (TWIN PEAKS), Sy Richardson (REPO MAN), Bill McKinney (DELIVERANCE), Nicole Eggert (BAYWATCH), and look fast for Danny "Machete" Trejo playing a prisoner near the end of the movie.

This is the last movie that Charles Bronson made before the death of his second wife, actress Jill Ireland. At 68 and with a string of mediocre action thrillers littering his 1980s output, this sleazy cop movie turned out to be one of his better efforts of the decade. Bronson plays vice detective Crowe, a racist veteran of the force who has grown weary of seeing the scum of Los Angeles dragging innocent children into prostitution and drugs. A parallel storyline follows visiting Japanese businessman Hiroshi Hada (James Pax) who struggles to adapt to American values and soon after arriving loses his young daughter to slimy pimp Duke (Juan Fernandez). Crowe has already had run-ins with Duke, so when he is assigned to find Hada's daughter, the stories merge with tragic results. Bronson is still trim and performs well as Crowe, with several good action sequences. Largely maligned as an actor because he underplayed his leading roles, Bronson always fit this type of role because you could believe that he actually does the things he is portraying. There is a nice little scene involving an ethnic event where Crowe vents his frustration on some startled Japanese that speaks volumes about character motivation. Juan Fernandez is exceptional as Duke and makes his character truly evil. Veteran British director J. Lee Thompson does a fair job of keeping the movie plugging along and has a great set piece at the end of the movie involving a crane and crashing automobiles. The subject matter isn't as exploited as it could have been, but it's still pretty rough and loaded with nudity and violence. Bronson fans won't be disappointed and even non-fans (like my wife) enjoyed it.