Jitsuroku Andô Noboru kyôdô-den: Rekka (2002)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writer:

Shigenori Takechi (writer)

Release Date:

21 September 2002 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

After Kunisada's Yakuza leader and father figure is brutally murdered, he and his best friend go on a two-man mission to avenge his death...

Plot Keywords:

Yakuza | Killer | Killing | Death | Old Man

Cast

Riki Takeuchi	...	Kunisada
Ryôsuke Miki
Kenichi Endo
Mika Katsumura
Sonny Chiba
Yuya Uchida
Tetsuro Tamba
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Renji Ishibashi
Lily	...	Kunisada's Godmother
Miho Nomoto
Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi	...	Tabata
Joe Yamanaka
Rikiya Yasuoka		(as Rikiya)

Also Known As:

Deadly Outlaw: Rekka (International: English title)
Violent Fire (USA) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Finland:K-15

Company:

Toei Video Company

Trivia:

'Takashi Miike (I)' cut this movie to the strains of the 1971 progressive rock album "Satori" by the Flower Traveling Band, which he learned of through costars Joe Yamanaka and Yuya Uchida, who were also the band's founding members. Miike found the album to be way ahead of its time and was delighted at how well and inconspicuously it cut into a movie made 30 years later.

The Neverending Training

I believe cinema needs originality nowadays more than ever. Studios are afraid to risk, and after all they have a point: audiences are not easily fascinated by certain products (they had to sell "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" as a typical romantic comedy, or "Birth" as a supernatural thriller). They never were, actually, but perhaps today we are reaching a record in history. The situation, however, is not critical everywhere: the Asian market is one of the most interesting and unique in the whole world, and everyone seems to acknowledge that. Even the American studios themselves, who, instead of following the example and stimulate a different kind of cinema, simply go on making remakes and rip-offs.

I'm sincerely tired of this situation, and I find more and more appealing looking after movies from Korea, China, Japan, Thailand etc. Among all the directors from Asia, one of my favorites is Takashi Miike. He's like Burton meets Cronenberg, only crazier and mostly inclined towards crime genre. To be honest, Miike rarely follows a genre: Miike is a genre of its own, with a certain style and a particular way to tell stories. Basically every movie he does is a gem to discover, both because of its rarity and its quality. Of course, sometimes he does some mistakes, but he is nevertheless a director to follow even in his wrong steps.

"Deadly Outlaw: Rekka" is however a very fine yakuza movie. It is the story of a lone wolf, a beast that lives for nothing but for fighting: it is played by Riki Takeuchi, who really acts as a madman who cares about nothing, not even his life. But even a wolf has a heart: maybe a dark, frozen, still heart, but there are still emotions inside him, emotions that a Korean girl manages to arise. The scenes between them are really something exceptional; touching in an unexpected way. It seems as the real point for the journey made by the characters is love, love that is missing or that was never there. The two Korean women and the main characters are the obvious example, but also the mother of Riki, and the gangster on the wheelchair. There is who tries to buy it, those who would keep it, but have to let go, and those who live it by their memories.

The point, however, is not getting what they want: it is to go on, even if it leads to death, because, as the master says at the end, "Death is only the beginning of training." The ending, while bizarre, includes all of this and even more, and with a touch of genius Miike illustrates the fate of these fighters without showing the fight itself. "Deadly Outlaw" is a fascinating journey in the heart of a warrior, that maybe is not perfect (all the mechanisms between the different gangs and characters become confusing after a while), but is worth the price. And it features perhaps one of the best soundtracks ever.