Jingi no hakaba (1975)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Tatsuhiko Kamoi (writer) and
Hirô Matsuda (writer) ...

Release Date:

15 February 1975 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Plot:

A look at the life of renegade yakuza, Rikio Ishikawa, particularly the years from 1946 to 1950 when...

Plot Keywords:

Yakuza | Prison | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Tetsuya Watari	...	Rikio Ishikawa
Tatsuo Umemiya	...	Kozaburo Imai
Yumi Takigawa	...	Chieko Ishikawa
Eiji Go	...	Makoto Sugiura
Noboru Ando	...	Ryunosuke Nozu
Hajime Hana	...	Shuzo Kawada
Mikio Narita	...	Noboru Kajiki
Kunie Tanaka	...	Katsuji Ozaki
Shingo Yamashiro	...	Hiroshi Tamura
Reiko Ike	...	Teruko Imai
Hideo Murota	...	Yasuo Matsuoka
Meika Seri	...	Woman in the slums

Also Known As:

Death of Honor
Graveyard of Honor (USA)

Runtime:

Japan:94 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16

Company:

Toei Company

Movie Connections:

Version of Shin jingi no hakaba (2002)

Sympathy For The Devil

Don't be misled. GRAVEYARD OF HONOR is not your typical Japanese Yakuza film. This genre most often depicts a battle between Good and Evil, or at the very least, the awareness of this struggle. Kinji Fukasaku, director of GRAVEYARD OF HONOR, has created a portrait of a character who is not cognizant of a single redeemable quality. Tetsuya Watari plays Rikio Ishikawa who was a real figure within the Japanese underworld in the years immediately following WWII. This man was clearly psychotic and was not to be restrained or regulated either by the police or leaders within his Yakuza brotherhood. Fresh out of jail, and then banished for attacking his own clan leader, he is sent to Osaka where he acquires a heroin habit. And, all along this downward slide, it is nearly impossible to generate any sympathy whatsoever for this reprehensible character. Fukasaku seems to suggest that US occupying forces were in some ways complicit in the corruption of post WWII Japan. As the US attempted to bolster Japanese self rule, it allowed the Yakuza's fortunes to prosper in phony democratic elections. However, in no way does this allow the viewer to empathize with the sadistically violent outbursts of Rikio Ishikawa. Kinji Fukasaku has crafted a film in which we watch as a malevolent anti-hero voraciously embraces the forces of darkness without a backwards glance.