Gonin (1995)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Takashi Ishii

Writer:

Takashi Ishii (writer)

Release Date:

16 January 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Crime

Tagline:

KIRE tara tomaranai! [Japan]

Plot:

Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned...

Plot Keywords:

Yakuza | Gay Kiss | Gangster | Violence | Gang

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Kôichi Satô	...	Mikihiko Bandai
Masahiro Motoki	...	Junichi Mitsuya
Jinpachi Nezu	...	Kaname Hizu
Kippei Shiina	...	Jimmy
Naoto Takenaka	...	Shohei Ogiwara
Takeshi Kitano	...	Ichiro Kyoya (as Beat Takeshi)
Kazuya Kimura	...	Kazuma Shibata
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Daisuke Iijima
Ryo Iwamatsu	...	Man at the toilet
Maiko Kawakami	...	Hostess at Pinky
Chiaki Kuriyama	...	Ogiwara's daughter
Hideo Murota	...	Shikine
Eiko Nagashima	...	Saki
Toshiyuki Nagashima	...	Yasumasa Ogoshi
Kanji Tsuda
Shingo Tsurumi	...	Shigeru Hisamatsu
Megumi Yokoyama	...	Nammy

Also Known As:

The Five (USA)

Runtime:

109 min | 121 min (director's cut)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | UK:18 | Finland:K-18 | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | USA:Unrated

Company:

Bunkasha

Movie Connections:

Followed by Gonin 2 (1996)

Powerful use of symbols creates a complex movie from a small story.

GONIN is one of the best Japanese movies I've seen. It's use of symbols and dreams in almost every scene makes it a bit hard to get into at the first watching, but if you see it several times, you will see why this is one of the highlights of Ishii.

The story is easy to follow and is about five men trying to rip of the Yakuza. Things doesn't go exactly as planned (do they ever?), and they end up chased instead.

This could have been a really bad film because of the simple plot, but because of the extremely powerful characters, the complex figures that we see and with full blown motives of everyone involved, this gets to be a very interesting and good movie.

I've seen this movie about five times now, and I must say that it has grown. I see new things and can explore side-plots still, which is why I keep coming back to this wonderful film.

If you think it is too slow, too weird, too violent, too Japanese or antyhing like that, maybe you should give it a second chance.

This is NOT your standard action movie. This is NOT Violent Cop or a HK-film. This is pure drama with an action movie thrown into the mix. Beautifully made, with exploring of gay sexuality, mafia psychology, more true characters than any other action film. It's a gem.

I've voted 9 of 10. I would have given it a 10 if I had thought what I think of this movie the first time I saw it. Now, it might be a bit too complex, but that again just makes it a film that will be nice to see in ten years from now.

Very good film.