Black Society Trilogy Review by Rod Barnett

The trio of Yakuza films directed by Takashi Miike from 1995 to 1999 is
an excellent example of how good modern Japanese crime movies can be. For
a long while it seemed that the genre had sputtered and died but these
three films are a jolt of adrenaline pleasure harkening back to the
1960's and 70's. Although they are grouped together under the title The
Black Society trilogy for their stateside release they are only linked
thematically and can be viewed in any order. The major link all three
share is an exploration of the relations between the Japanese and Chinese
mafias. I watched them chronologically starting with SHINJUKU TRIAD
SOCIETY and was suitably impressed. This first film revolves around a
standard story of two brothers, one a cop and the other working for a
gangster involved in a messy war with the Chinese mafia. The brothers are
the product of a mixed Chinese/Japanese marriage that seems only to
complicate their feelings about the sibling antagonism already in place.
The cop Tatsuhito is after vicious crime lord Wang. The Taiwanese Wang is
a homosexual sadist whose unpredictable temper and violent tendencies are
fueling his attempts to gain control of crime in Shinjuku. Yoshihito is
the younger brother fresh out of law school and helping Wang coordinate
his illegal business dealings. Tatsuhito uses the opportunity of
transporting a prisoner to Taiwan to hunt around the island nation for
clues into Wang's rise from poverty to wealth. In Wang's hometown he
discovers a hospital built and financed by the crime lord for the express
purpose of buying and selling human organs. The Taiwanese police have no
interest in the operation because they consider no crime to be taking
place. Tatsuhito returns to Japan determined to stop the trafficking. But
when his brother goes missing he miscalculates Wang's influence and ends
up under the knife as an unwilling organ donor himself.
Violent, sick and often unsettling in it's depiction of these characters
lives SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY is a great Yakuza movie. It's tragic story
is suffused with elements right out of Shakespeare down to Wang being his
own Lady MacBeth never able to remove the blood of his father's death
from his hands. Well worth seeing for any crime film fan.

The second movie in this loose trilogy is RAINY DOG. Set in Taiwan it
tells the story of outcast Yakuza foot soldier Yuji who is making a
living in Taipei as an assassin for the local mafia. His employer does
not respect him but his skills are needed so he is tolerated. When a
woman shows up and dumps a 7-year-old boy in his lap claiming he's Yuji's
son the killer starts to reexamine his life. Slowly he comes to care for
the boy and when he has the chance to profit heavily from a certain hit
Yuji takes the money. Enlisting the aid of a prostitute who wants to get
out of Taipei he decides to get them all out of the country before his
job gets them killed. This is a wonderful, moving film that I loved from
beginning to end. While it has a good amount of brutal violence the
overwhelming mood is one of melancholy contemplation and longing for
something or someplace better. The growing relationships between the
boy and Yuji and the boy and the young prostitute are well done and
reflect a realistic bonding of these people. This is a great film and I
highly recommend it.

The third and final movie is LEY LINES and has a much more loose
narrative then the first two. Ryuichi is a young man living with his
family in the Japanese countryside frustrated with his lot in life. He
regularly commits petty crimes and vandalism with a small group of
friends but has become bored with it all. He decides to leave home and
venture into Shinjuku to make his own way. His younger brother Shunrei
and his slightly crazed friend Chan accompany him. They are in the big
city for only a few hours before they are ripped off by Anita a
world-weary prostitute. With no money and no prospects they luck into a
job selling a drug called toluene which is sniffed for a high. All three
do very well at this new vocation but when they run across Anita again
the story takes a strange turn. The four of them become friends and begin
making plans for the future. They decided to rob their Mafia boss Wong
and flee the country for Brazil. But even though the robbery goes well
getting away from their fellow criminals might not be too easy.
LEY LINES tells its story in a casual, almost sluggish pace that at first
I found tedious. But as the story went on I was slowly drawn in and
finally was totally effected by the characters and their plight. I think
this is the least of the three films in this set but it is still very
good. It has a very different tempo and structure than either of the
first two but its rewards are just as compelling.

Each of these movies can be bought individually or together in a great
single package of all three. Artsmagic has done a fantastic job in
presenting these films with solid picture and sound. They have their
original Japanese soundtracks in Dolby 2.0 with very good English white
subtitles. They are letterboxed at 1.85:1, anamorphically enhanced and
look good but I do feel the image is a little too dark some of the time.
This might be the way the films were shot though so it might be
unavoidable. Beyond the films each DVD has a host of great extras as
well. Each film has been given a scene specific commentary track by Miike
and Japanese film expert Tom Mes. Although each track has dry stretches,
overall these are incredibly informative talks that serve to enhance the
movies qualities. Each disc also has several interviews including two for
each DVD with the infamous director. Unlike other interviews with Miike I
found him much more personable here with a lot to say and some telling
insights into his choices of stories to tell. There are also interviews
with the film's editor, filmographies, short biographies and some
trailers. Altogether, a wonderful, comprehensive package of these movies
and it may well be definitive. As I said before, these can be bought
separately but I would recommend getting the Digi-Pack of all three if
you're really interested. The packaging is attractive, takes up less
space on your shelf and is even cheaper! If you're looking for some good
Japanese crime films you need look no further.

To see the trailers for these films go to:

Shinjuku Triad Society - http://www.artsmagicdvd.com/shinjukutriadsociety

Rainy Dog - http://www.artsmagicdvd.com/rainydog

Ley Lines - http://www.artsmagicdvd.com/leylines

CURSE/NIGHT OF THE DEMON

CURSE/NIGHT OF THE DEMON opens in the English countryside with
Professor Harrington making a frenzied late night appeal to Julian Karswell
(Niall MacGinnis) for help. The professor promises to retract his public attacks
on Karswell and his black magic cult if he will only stop what has been
started. Karswell says he'll do what he can and a relived Harrington goes
home, but as he arrives a horrible fiery creature appears and kills the
poor man. A few days later, Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) travels to
England to attend a psychiatric convention. When he learns of his
colleague Harrington's death (explained away as an accident), he takes up
the investigation of Karswell's devil worshipping cult. Karswell
contrives to meet Holden and after determining that he won't drop the
inquiry, slyly passes Holden a piece of parchment inscribed with runes.
Joined by Harrington's suspicious niece Joanna (Peggy Cummings), Holden
visits Karswell's palatial home twice- once in the daytime and once at
night. During the daytime visit the cult leader tells Holden that he will
die in three days and on both visits Karswell demonstrates mystic
abilities that the professor dismisses as tricks. But when he discovers
the runic parchment in his papers, our detective begins to wonder about
the prediction of his untimely death. After questioning a member of the
cult who has been driven mad by fear of the demonic beast, Holden learns
the only way to survive the curse-if he only has the time.

CURSE/NIGHT OF THE DEMON is one of the best horror films of the 1950's
and one of the greatest horror films ever made. Directed by the brilliant
Jacques Tourneur from a sharp, literate script it manages to be a
fantastic piece of cinema without sacrificing any of the power of it's M.
R. James source story. Shot in crisp black and white in the same year
that Hammer Studio was filming THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
in bloody color, this film is an odd melding of two very dissimilar
types of horror film.

Tourneur was best know for directing three of producer Val Lewton's
subtle and atmospheric horror films of the 40's- CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED
WITH A ZOMBIE and THE LEOPARD MAN. These movies were models
of restraint and mood with strong characters and a reliance on the idea of
the unseen being scarier than any monster. In the Val Lewton films, every
person could be a monster and there was no outwardly visible sign to point
to the dangers. I think the idea here was to couple this approach with the
more garish aspects of the classic Universal monster movies to lend
credibility to the supernatural elements of the story. With our main
character as a disbelieving cynic, the idea of summoning demons to kill
off enemies becomes a silly story for children-except for one thing. We
have seen the demon! There can be no doubt in our minds that the demon
appeared, plucked Mr. Harrington from the ground and killed him. As much
as we might scoff at the idea, in this story we know the truth that
Holden is refuting and we know he is doomed if he doesn't accept that
truth. Brilliantly this puts the audience in the position of both knowing
it can't be true (in the real world) and knowing it IS true (in this
enthralling story). We can be both observer and participant as we watch
Holden work very hard to disprove the possibilities we know he will
inevitably be forced to accept. I think this is how I can enjoy watching
CURSE OF THE DEMON over and over again- I am compelled to follow Holden
down this gently curving path until he has finally turned 180 degrees and
realizes he is staring a supernatural death in the face. It's a
wonderfully constructed story that the filmmakers do a great job of
drawing us into. Of course, much of the credit for the story must go to
the fantastic source story by Montague R. James entitled CASING THE
RUNES. The film is very faithful to the original story and is I recommend
reading it for an appreciation of Mr. James' work.