Seijun Suzuki turns the Yakuza genre inside-out once again. By the end of this film, you will once again see the futility of it all, whether the Yakuza member involved believes and acts sincerely and nobly to the "Yakuza" code or simply uses it as a matter of criminal convenience. The really clever thing about this film is in the sly reversal of a "supposed" victim to the one that figuratively gets "one-up" on all of this stuff. It involves one of the three young girls that open this film and her story is almost a literal jab by Suzuki at male desire and stupidity. It certainly had me going. Does this mean I'm stupid? Probably. But after the "reversal", I had to laugh at my own assumptions and wish I could've congratulated Suzuki with a "Touche". Anyways, a good film. Definitely worth seeing. I liked it more than "Tokyo Drifter" and only slightly less than "Branded to Kill". It's amazing how the theme of "men vs men, men vs themselves, and men vs women" repeats in so many of his films, including his more serious Taisho trilogy which he did many years later (20 or so years after his 60's Yakuza period working for the studio that he got fired from). Oh, if you're scared of Suzuki's more artistic and esoteric Taisho stuff done later in his life, don't worry. "Kanto Wanderer" is Suzuki close to his "Yakuza" best. 8 out of 10 for me.
Review of Kanto Wanderer
