|
|||||||||||||||
The Wolves are a member of the ninkyo style of yakuza films (literal translation: a chivalrous gangster film), a film style that typically has the central character torn between duty and personal feelings. In this case, it's not so much personal feelings that conflict with duty; it's the code of honour that makes the demands. It's 1929, and the new Emperor of Japan, Emperor Hirohito, has given early release with parole to almost 400 prisoners, one of which is our main character, Seiji Iwahashi (played by Tatsuya Nakadai who has also been in Yojimbo, Sword of Doom and Ran). He is released with along with several of his former 'brothers', all of which now must try to find themselves a place back in their former worlds. I don't know if it's due to my lack of exposure to this genre and Japanese culture in general, but I found this film to be a bit confusing at first. Events in the plot didn't start to really make too much sense until about half way to two-thirds of the way through the film (I understand that this is not all that uncommon when watching Asian cinema). However, I was able to appreciate what the film was trying to show, such as Seiji constant internal struggle between duty to obey and support his new 'boss' while remembering how things are 'supposed' to be and having to deal with and do (or not do) things that he feels should be done because his honor and code tell him he should (but are not 'done' or 'acceptable' now). Tatsuya through out most of the film, looks most of the time like he is feeling bad for some misfortune that has befallen a distant associate or that someone has kicked his puppy. However a lack of emotional response is typical for Japanese acting, so this is fairly normal. The only time he shows anything beyond this is at the end when he finds out the truth about what happened to his gang, the duplicity of others that caused the current state of the gang, and then does what his yakuza code of honour demands. One of the things I noticed that helped show this difference of old-vs-new was the subjects of discussion between characters. While Seiji and his friends would worry about saving face and showing respect to others, even if they didn't like them, the current group would be more concerned about showing force and trying to start fights with blatant rudeness, something that was not done in Seiji's time. The defining moment of his internal struggle is a scene where he is talking to one of his 'brothers' and asks that if a yakuza promise can't be believed, then what can? As for the reason to why everyone from the gang ended up in jail, it's never fully explained and left up to the viewer to piece it together from flashbacks and various references to what had happened, as well as a brief scene toward the beginning of the film. Also, the film does digress once into a non-serious mode, unfortunately in the middle of one of the more serious scenes, when the producer added in sounds that I would expect in an anime, not in a serious film such as this, and when one considers that every scene previous where this happened, there wasn't any unnecessary sound effects (I know, that's a bit vauge and confusing, but I'm trying not to give out any spoilers). The entire film was shot on the Shimokita Peninsula, which allowed for some very good coastal scenes, as well as some shots that, if I am seeing the artistic vision correctly, provided for some poignant old-vs-new contrast shots, such as people being pulled in a carriage while there is a steel building in the background. Another thing of note is the length of the film, it is 131 minutes total. This does allow for more character development, which is good as the film is light on violence. This isn't a bad thing as the whole point of the film is the struggle of one man who accepted his fate and duty for his gang, then found that it had changed for the worse and his sacrifice was all for nothing. The DVD is unrated, but is suggested for 18 or older viewers, which I would agree with. Not only would anyone younger probably not have the attention span for a film of this length, but there are a few scenes that are definitely more for adults. Extras on the DVD are limited to some program notes, 'image gallery' (aka colour and black and white pictures taken during filming), and an 'interactive map', which isn't really much more than an overhead map of Japan and China that you can flip between. While the gallery is somewhat interesting to see, the rest of the extras are not really worth much. For a release that is a new licence for the U.S. and that hasn't been seen very much on this side of the world, I would have expected something more than what it does have. What it has is something I would have seen from a DVD back when DVD's were still new and the ability to have extras were something largely unexplored. The Wolves is considered to be one of the quintessential Japanese gangster films, and I can see why. It's a very good character study of the stereotypical yakuza member, one who puts honour above all. If you are new to the genre, you can do a lot worse than have this as your introduction. -Justin-
|
|||||||||||||||
