Kinji Fukasaku's Street Mobster

I'm a sucker for really innovative films. Kinji Fukasaku's 70's yakuza pictures are some of the earliest films to feature a high speed documentary style visual feel. These films shooting style is so far ahead of its time that it's just now becoming more mainstream. Films like Saving Private Ryan, Narc, United 93 all owe something to these old flicks.

Street Mobster is the tale of a young thug named Isamu Okita(Bunta Sugiwara) who is a hot head with who refuses to bow to anyone... ever. As you can imagine in the world of the street thugs and Yakuza big wigs this can cause quite a bit of drama. Its a tale of rags to riches filled with money, dames and violent uprising.

The star of this and all of the Fukasaku Yakuza films is the wild visual style. Angles are so dutch that the camera man might be suspended from a cable or something. We chase down our criminals at such high speeds with so many well timed cuts that it really gets your blood flowing. Every action scene has quick dramatic impact, gun shots, stab wounds all happen so quickly that they are quick shocking and effective.

While the style is something to write home about the rest leaves something to be desired. While this film is easier to understand than Fukasaku's byzantine Yakuza Papers series, It lacks that films sheer number of amazing scenes and memorable characters. The main character of this film borders between cool and annoying punk almost unbearably(part of this is because he is the main character of the Yakuza Papers where his amazingly cool). The story to the film seems to lack any real weight as we watch it, it has developed characters hell we even see a the main character as a baby, but it just doesn't seem to have any gusto. Also Some character motivations are very muddy. Especially those of Okita's bizarre girlfriend who will be nearly tortured and for some reason always come conveniently crawling back when the plot needs it.

While this isn't a particularly good film, it is a very cool one. If you haven't been exposed to Fukasaku's violent and stylish Yakuza world I'd say to start with The Yakuza Papers (There are five films in the first series), then go on to watch the magnificent Graveyard of Honor. This film has enough style and one particularly good scene to warrant a viewing for hardcore fans, but for others its not required viewing at all.

3/5 "Its got some style, but not much else."