intro

This is the latest film directed by the rather prolific Sai Yoichi [崔洋一]. Based on a novel of the same name by author Yan Sogiru, an Osaka native of Korean descent, the film is told through the narrative eyes of Masao, whose father traveled from south Korea to Osaka in a bid for a better life.

The father, Kin Shunpei, is wholly-convincingly played by Takeshi Kitano [北野武](aka "Beat Takashi" [ビートたけし]). Following a tragic traffic accident which nearly paralyzed him, Kitano has made a very marked turn in his career, from the purely nonsense-laden to a very noticeable appreciation of world cultures and tradition. This film fits squarely within that trajectory.

As regards immigrant struggles captured on film, director Miike Takashi also has quite a library. However, despite Miike's notorious attraction toward extreme depictions, none of his films (which I have seen) come anywhere near the brute reality of Chi to Hone.

Similarly, this in many ways initially apprears to be a Japanese take on the Godfather, but with wholly different outcomes. So different, in fact, that Western audiences may be wholly riveted by the fact that power and influence do not simply yield success.

Rather, this far more realistic tale will suggest a perpetually brutal, chaotic and tragic origin of the (Korean-based) Yakuza.

verdict

The brute realism of this tale and the honesty of core charaters' demises easily blows (director) Miike's same-genre films out of the water. I wholly encourage you to watch this film. Not only will you be entertained, but you will feel you were present at a crucial and critically tragic time in the formation of Japan's underground.

Here's a rather unique and memorable depiction of the era which ascetically denies itself the foolish luxuries of idealized or heroic conclusions. And yet the force of this film is more palpable that any hollywood myth.

Version reviewed: Unsubtitled VHS

cultural interest	violence	sex	strangeness
Riveting tale of the brutal emergence of Japan's Korean-immigrant yakuza.	Plenty of physical violence toward both male and female.	Several rapacious or consensual sex scenes. Kitano proves a voracious man of stamina.	An excellent and absorbding tale of a Korean-immigrant family's struggle, tragedy and survival in pre-War Japan.