Shinjuku kuroshakai: Chaina mafia sensô (1995)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writer:

Ichirô Fujita (writer)

Release Date:

26 August 1995 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Dead Man | Prostitute | Mafia Boss | Corruption | Cocaine

Cast

Kippei Shiina	...	Kiriya
Tomorowo Taguchi	...	Wang
Takeshi Caesar	...	Karino
Ren Osugi	...	Yakuza boss
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yukie Itou
Kyosuke Izutsu
Kazuhiro Mashiko
Airi Yanagi

Directed by
Takashi Miike

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ichirô Fujita		writer

Produced by
Tetsuya Ikeda	....	producer
Toshiki Kimura	....	producer
Ken Takeuchi	....	planner
Tsutomu Tsuchikawa	....	producer

Original Music by
Atorie Shira

Cinematography by
Naosuke Imaizumi

Film Editing by
Yasushi Shimamura		(as Taiji Shimamura)

Production Design by
Tatsuo Ozeki

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hideyuki Yamamoto	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Kunio Ando	....	sound recordist (as Kunio Andô)
Yukiya Sato	....	sound (as Yukiya Satô)

Camera and Electrical Department
Masaaki Sakurai	....	lighting technician

Production Companies

• Daiei Motion Picture Company
• Excellent Film

Distributors

• Daiei Motion Picture Company
• Tartan Video (2003) (UK) (subtitled)
• Tokuma Japan Communications Co. Ltd. (Japan) (DVD)
• Toshiba Digital Frontiers (TDF) (Japan) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Shinjuku Triad Society
Shinjuku Underworld: Chinese Mafia War (International: English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

UK:18

Company:

Daiei Motion Picture Company

Movie Connections:

Followed by Nihon kuroshakai (1999)

Very Good Crime Drama

While not as wild and way out as some of Takashi Miike's later films this is a very good crime drama.

The basic story is the story of a cop of Japanese cop with Chinese parents trying to take down an up and coming Chinese mobster. Complicating things is that his younger brother is acting as the lawyer for the villain and his gang. The film is actually much more complicated than that with several complications which both keep things interesting and distract things from the central narrative thrust. Its this complication and loss of way about an hour into the film that makes this less than a great film.(It is a very very good one) This is definitely worth seeing especially if you don't mind a no frantic pace.

A word of warning, the violence when it happens is explosive and nasty. There are also semi-graphic depictions of gay sex. If thats not your cup of tea, proceed with caution.

7 or 8 out of 10.