Yakuza Graveyard – Radiance

Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Screenplay: Kazuo Kasahara
Starring: Tetsuya Watari, Meiko Kaji, Tatsuo Umemiya, Hideo Murota, Jûkei Fujioka, Kenji Imai
Country: Japan
Running Time: 96 min
Year: 1976
BBFC Certificate: 15

Kinji Fukasaku revolutionised the yakuza genre when he released Street Mobster back in 1972, followed by the hugely successful Battles Without Honour and Humanity series a year later. Shifting from the usual fairly elegiac honour-among-thieves approach that had been in vogue previously to a more gritty, visceral, ripped-from-the-headlines style, he created a boom in the genre through the middle of the decade.

Fukasaku’s Yakuza Graveyard, which is soon being released on Blu-ray by Radiance Films, came towards the end of this wave, before the director moved on to follow new trends. He hadn’t run out of steam by this point though, with Yakuza Graveyard proving equally as popular with genre enthusiasts as his other mob thrillers, such as Graveyards of Honour and Cops vs Thugs.

I’ve been steadily working through Fukasaku’s large collection of yakuza movies that have been released by Arrow Video over the past seven years and haven’t been disappointed yet, so didn’t need asking twice whether or not I’d like to take a look at Radiance’s new release of Yakuza Graveyard.

The film follows police detective Kuroiwa (Tetsuya Watari), who has been assigned to help keep the local yakuza in check whilst a war between clans looks set to boil over. However, his violent, questionable methods rub his superiors up the wrong way, leading to his being reassigned.

However, after clashing with the yakuza during his ‘investigations’ and taking pity on some low-level gang members, Kuroiwa finds himself getting increasingly more involved with the Nishida family. Though initially reluctant to openly work for them, after discovering that the police are being paid off and used by the gangs, he begins to wonder what side he should be on.

Also affecting Kuroiwa’s decision to join the Nishida family is the fact that he begins to form a relationship with Keiko (Meiko Kaji), whose husband is Nishida’s underboss Matsunaga. Keiko is in charge of the family’s finances whilst Matsunaga is in prison for a considerable amount of time. When her husband treats her terribly during a visit, she becomes suicidal but Kuroiwa saves her and feels great sympathy for the woman. This spurs him on to put a stop to the violence between the families, siding with whoever will help him.

Though there’s still quite a lot going on and a fair number of characters, the narrative here doesn’t feel quite as complex as some of Fukasaku’s other films of the era. This works in the film’s favour, keeping the focus more directly on Kuroiwa and keeping its themes and drama clear and effective.

Chiefly, Yakuza Graveyard explores the blurred line between criminals and the police. The two appear to clash for the press but are shown to work alongside each other much of the time, with the police paid off to turn a blind eye or even being used to quell the rise of a rival family. Fukasaku’s earlier film Cops vs Thugs also explores this idea but the approach of Yakuza Graveyard is slightly different through its tighter focus on the police officer Kuroiwa.

The film also touches on how many of the men and women drawn into the yakuza gangs were immigrants (often from Korea) who struggled to find work anywhere else. This was something less openly discussed in writer Kazuo Kasahara and director Fukasaku’s previous films but an issue they wanted to address here. It’s not dwelled on a great deal but does add an extra layer to help the film stand out from the crowd.

As always with Fukasaku’s yakuza films, one of Yakuza Graveyard’s great strengths is its energy. The director shoots things largely handheld, with a lot of activity in the frame as well as frequently flinging the camera around. Unusual angles are occasionally used too, giving a vibrancy to the otherwise documentary-influenced approach. The action scenes, similarly, are kept scrappy and chaotic, as they would be in reality. There’s no stylised violence here, it’s down and dirty throughout.

Lead actor Tetsuya Watari was a veteran of yakuza movies. He worked in the genre right into his final years, in fact, voicing characters in the ‘Yakuza’ series of video games. He gives a typically commanding performance, super-cool in his fearless attitude, whilst boiling with rage at the same time.

Fukasaku’s yakuza films are largely dominated by male characters, but Meiko Kaji is given a decent role here, likely to capitalise on her popularity and image as a tough, female anti-hero. Her character here is given depth and strength and it’s great to see her play someone who’s not simply icy-cold and badass. She’s strong-willed but also complex and emotionally vulnerable.

Also, amongst the rest of the cast of reliable Toei yakuza movie regulars, the Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Ôshima makes a rare acting appearance here as one of the chiefs of police. I’m not quite sure what inspired this, but it’s an intriguing touch.

Fukasaku maintained a standard of quality few could rival throughout the time he spent making yakuza movies in the 70s. You could argue they’re largely very similar but why mess with a winning formula? I believe Yakuza Graveyard is among his best work and does tweak the format a little, meaning it’s an absolute must-watch for fans of the director and genre.

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