A Yakuza group from Osaka with dreams of national dominance moves into the snowy Hokuriku region, sparking a bloody turf war with local gangs.
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, “Hokuriku Proxy War” is another Yakuza film from the late 1970s. To be quite blunt, this is a wild and chaotic movie. Packed with an overabundance of characters and constantly shifting locales, Fukasaku’s film quickly becomes overwhelming. It doesn’t help that the locales are next to impossible to decipher, thanks to the position of the subtitles on the screen. They are laid directly on top of the Japanese title cards, creating a mess of text. This is the only glaringly negative comment I have to say about this disc.
Trying to boil down the plot into a readable summary for this review is tough. I’m not even going to attempt it. A lot is going on in this film. The material lends itself well to Fukasaku’s frenetic styling — swooping, off-kilter camerawork; fast, snappy editing; and continual spurts of bloody violence. Although unable to completely follow the story, Fukasaku shows a technical mastery of film here. Fans of the Yakuza genre will probably be foaming at the mouth to get their hands on this title, which makes its worldwide Blu-ray debut with this limited edition.
For the technical presentation of the film, Radiance presents this title with its usual top-notch audio/video transfer. I did notice some dirt/specks while viewing, but I always find that more of a charm of film-based material than a distraction. The included booklet does not provide much information about the transfer, but I didn’t notice any problems with the audio.
This limited edition Blu-ray comes with a booklet featuring archival writing about the film. The booklet includes three essays from 1977, the year the movie was released. On the disc itself, Radiance has produced some new special features. Among these features are new interviews with Koji Takada and Yoko Takahashi and a discussion with Akihiko Ito about the film’s real-life ramifications. I started my viewing with a discussion with Ito, which gave some context to the movie itself. The disc also includes the film’s trailer.
I’m not a huge fan of the Yakuza genre. I frequently find these movies to be complicated and hard to follow. No surprise; this one was not exactly my cup of tea, either. However, there is an audience for this genre, and that audience will be thrilled with the disc that Radiance has manufactured.
Available on Limited Edition Blu-ray February 25th
