Shinjuku Triad Society

When I heard about Takashi Miike I thougt he was like Quentin Tarantino of Japan. Well, after this movie I realized he's more than that & these two directors are completely different. Also, if we consider some other movies by Miike, I don't think Tarantino could go that far about taboo subjects.

Movie: Tatsuhito Kiriya, a Japanese cop with Chinese descent trying to take care of his old parents while trying to either catch or eliminate a triad boss who's running the organ trafficking business and Kiriya also wants to keep his younger brother Yoshihito (who is a lawyer working for that gang's legal department) away from the underworld.

Now, this movie is definitely not for everyone. Violence and sexuality plays a big role and movie never shies away from using bizzare images, which can be uncomfortable to watch sometimes. Even the main character who supposed to represent the ''goodness'' isn't that much of a good person. In fact, there isn't a ''good guy'' in this film. It's about bad guys vs. worse guys, guns, beating and stuff. You shouldn't overthink it.

Note: Even though this movie is often mentioned as a Yakuza film, it's mostly about a Chinese triad.

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8/10

Shinjuku Triad Society: Chinese Mafia Wars is unlikely to get distribution in the West outside film festivals. Why? Could your censors stomach a film where policemen anally rape male and female suspects to get them to talk (and the victims enjoy it) or see an old lady have her eye torn out of her skull? These are just a few of the shocks in store for viewers of this ultraviolent cops and gangsters story. It makes Clockwork Orange which was banned for years in the UK look like a Disney cartoon.

Should you see this film? YES It is fantastic and essential viewing for fans of Asian cinema. The shocking moments are there to illustrate what goers on in the world of these characters. If you like this make sure you catch Dead or Alive which is very similar (barring the insane ending in DOA of course). Great for Japan that they have a talent like Miike working at the same time as Takeshi Kitano. The best chance of seeing this film outside a Takashi Miike retrospective at a film festival is on DVD. If I haven't put you off try hunting for a Hong Kong version on the web as I'm sure it will come out in that country.

Shinjuku is a bizarre film even by Miike's standards. I'm still undecided about whether I like this film or not and I'm not quite sure where to begin describing this film. In layman's terms it's a film about two brothers, one's a police officer (Kiriya) the other is a lawyer (Yoshihito) working for the mafia. During the course of the film a war breaks out between the Chinese and Japanese gangs, and it's down to Kiriya to keep his younger brother safe from the fallout.

Shinjuku is one of Miike's early projects and was the first one to get him noticed, whether that's from the sheer shock factor or genuine talent I don't know. The film has a certain low budget aesthetic that works really well. The film also has a genuine sense of grit and nihilism to it. The characters are all horrible, and they do horrific things to each other. From scenes where the police interrogate their suspects by anally raping them, to the mafia harvesting organs from children there are no good guys in this film, only shades of grey.

The film also tries to deal with a wide range of taboo topics, most notably having a homoerotic undertone which at times felt out of place, and only there to serve as shock value. Over-all there are some interesting aspects to the film. I liked the main story and the juxtaposition between the two brothers, despite it not being very original. Shinjuku had moments of brilliance but for the most part I didn't buy into what Miike was going for.

I really like Miikes movies about Yakuza, this one I saw about 2 years ago and it really fu**ed my head. Never before seen such a sick and twisted thing. The Story is good and the actors do their thing very well. I haven't seen the UK or Japan version, but I have to say that I believe that the German DVD is a bit censored. If you haven't seen the movie already and live in Germany maybe you better look out for a DVD from the Nederlands or Austria. The I-ON DVD contains a lot of very hard and nasty scenes, but at the showdown I felt that something was missing, about one or two very short scenes.

All in all a good perverted movie with crazy characters and a high level of violence, that's what I like Miike for!!

This movie is the first of Miikes triad society trilogy, and the trilogy kicks of to a great start. The movies in the trilogy are only connected thematically, and these themes are actually apparent in all his films, if you look close enough. Shinjuku Triad Society is about a cop trying to prevent his kid brother from getting too involved with a rather extreme gang of outsiders, struggling their way to the top of Tokyos yakuza. The kid brother is a lawyer, and the triad gang is becoming increasingly in need of one, as the movie progresses. The movie takes place in a very harsh environment, and is therefore pretty violent and tough. Miike has done worse, but since this is a serious movie it hits you very hard. As usual there is also a lot of perverted sex, mostly homosexual in this one. The movie is in many ways a typical gangster movie, but with a great drive and true grittiness. If you've only seen Miikes far-out movies (Ichi the killer, Fudoh etc.) this is worth checking out since it is sort of a compromise between his aggressive over-the-top style displayed in those movies and his more serious side, as seen in the other films of the trilogy. And as always with Miike, there are at least two scenes in this that you'll NEVER forget (see it and figure out which ones for yourself).

8/10