The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor & Humility
(Home Vision Entertainment)

Two severed arms, one markeplace shooting, one prison riot, one rape and an attempt at hari-kiri using a straight razor would be a lot of violence for most films, but all this occurs in just the first half-hour of Kinji Fukasaku’s (Battle Royale) mobster epic, The Yakuza Papers. Spanning five discs and 25 years, this intensely complex tale of mob war and political manipulation is an exhausting, but ultimately rewarding experience that begins in 1946 post-war Japan with a photo of a mushroom cloud. “Battles…” depicts a new societal chaos where it’s every man for himself, including the underworld bosses who are being challenged by new alliances and the rise of a new generation of gangster. We are introduced to family members via the use of freeze-frame and brief descriptions of who they are and their positions in the underworld hierarchy. A similar technique is also used repeatedly when one of them heads off to the “Big Sleep” and the time and date of death is notated. This style of filmmaking was called “Jitsuroku” or “actual record” and was given to a particular subgenre of yakuza film based in fact and actual events in Japanese history.

Relationships are complex – time and time again we see mobsters who, due to loyalty to their friends, defect from one gang to another and risk death to preserve their sworn brotherhood. Fukasaku surrounded his lead characters with scores of expendable henchmen who became the actual focus of the story, while the “hero” acted more as a narrative element. He’s credited with reinventing the yakuza film and for shaking up the entire industry at a time where period pieces were the norm. Director William Friedkin believes that Fukasaku had a major influence on American directors, due to his use of both hand-held and stationary cameras and for not feeling obligated to give the audience a happy ending.

The Yakuza Papers comes in a handsome six-disc box containing five films and one disc of bonus materials. The transfers from the original prints are generally excellent – colors are vivid (especially the blood) and night scenes are crisp. There’s also a handy flow chart detailing all the major players and interrelationships across the series. If you have not been exposed to the work of Fukasaku or the yakuza genre in general, you’re either in for a big treat or a major shock – maybe a combination of the two!