SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY (1995): THE FIRST INSTALMENT OF TAKASHI MIIKE'S 'BLACK SOCIETY TRILOGY' OR 'BLACK TRIAD TRILOGY.'
DIRECTED BY TAKASHI MIIKE. STARRING KIPPEI SHIINA, TOMOROWO TAGUCHI, REN OSUGI AND TAKESHI CAESAR. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
The 'BLACK SOCIETY TRILOGY' has got to be controversial Japanese movie director Takashi Miike at his absolute finest. It consists of three separate stand-alone films, but they're all connected in terms of place and theme and the kind of seedy, ultra-violent characters you might find in them. The films are SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY (1995); RAINY DOG (1997); and LEY LINES (1998).
SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY is one of the most violent films I've come across in my prissy, sheltered little life, haha. Some of Takashi Miike's favourite themes are in there, namely, the extreme violence of which I spoke a moment ago, the sexual perversion for which he's known, and another pet theme of his, the theme of gaijin, that is to say, of 'foreigners' or non-Japanese people living in Japan.
The extremely prolific director has a wicked sense of humour too, and that's very much in evidence in this, the first film in his highly-acclaimed trilogy.
This is the story of Kiriya, a sort of 'renegade' police officer who plays by his own rules, you know the type of maverick cop I mean! He'd be kind of cute if it weren't for his little douchebag moustache. Though the film was made in 1995, there's still a disturbingly strong 'Eighties vibe lingering in the fashions and hairstyles of all the men.
They're all still wearing crumpled linen MIAMI VICE- style baggy suits in lilac and other pastel colours and some of them are even sporting mullet-type hairstyles, God bless 'em...! People always say that the 'Seventies was 'the decade that style forgot.' I've personally always maintained that it's the 'Eighties that fits that bill. Watching this film is like stepping right back in time to that god-forsaken, or should that be style-forsaken, decade, but in a really fun way. The film is a riot of colour, clutter and chaos, brilliantly shot by a masterful director.
Kiriya is hot on the trail of a truly evil and perverted crime boss called Wang, who's actually quite cute as well. Wang deals in, of all things, black market children's organs, if you can imagine anything so horrific. You actually see a child in the film who's been cut open, had a kidney whipped out and then been stitched back up again, which is quite a shocking thing to contemplate.
The kids would usually be orphans who don't have anyone to go to bat for them. The whole thing, if you really thought about it, would give you nightmares. And you can imagine as well, can't you, how much big money would be involved in such illegal endeavours. It probably doesn't bear too much thinking about, but this is the problem that Kiriya is squarely faced with.
The issue is personal for Kiriya as well, because his little brother (who genuinely has the worst 'throwback' hair in the whole film!) is acting as lawyer to the homosexual criminal Wang, who incidentally is never seen without a water bottle to hand. No need to remember that fact, it's not important and never really leads to anything. It's just one of his quirks.
Kiriya's elderly parents, and his ailing father in particular, would be heartbroken if they knew what their youngest offspring had gotten himself involved with. Can Kiriya bring Wang and the organisation known as 'The Dragon's Claw' to justice while extricating his misguided Little Bro from the clutches of the yakuza and bringing him back home where he belongs? That's the terrible conundrum facing our man.
There's a shocking level of gun and knife violence in the film, which is not surprising as most of our characters are either warring cops and yakuza or prostitutes and other criminals for whom life is cheap. What's most shocking about this film, however, is the high levels of sexual violence and sexual perversion it contains.
If I tell you about some of the filthy stuff in it, will you promise to keep it to yourselves and not squeal on me? Okay, I trust you guys. God knows why, but I do! Here we go. Shhhhh...
A young female prostitute is unceremoniously cavity-searched by a lady cop while a male cop with an obvious erection looks on. Later on, this same young woman licks yogurt off the crotch of her pimp before being anally raped by someone whose identity will surprise you. (Can you believe they actually found a way to make yogurt, truly man's most disgusting concoction, worse...?)
A male suspect in custody is brutally sodomised as part of the highly suspect police interrogation technique. A young male prostitute (Wang's lover) unwillingly performs oral sex on a much older man with (snigger) a tiny willy. And so on and so forth. Trust me, there's loads more. Be warned, film buffs. This is not a film to watch with your granny...!
The good news is that all three films in this magnificent trilogy by one of Japan's most acclaimed film-makers have been out on DVD and Blu-Ray since January 16th, 2017, courtesy of ARROW FILMS. They all come complete with extra features, the delicious details of which I'm including for you now to drool and slaver over, haha. Here they come:
High Definition digital transfers of all three films
Original uncompressed stereo audio
Optional English subtitles for all three films
New interview with director Takashi Miike
New interview with actor Show Aikawa (Rainy Dog, Ley Lines)
New audio commentaries for all three films by Miike biographer Tom Mes
Original theatrical trailers for all three films
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films.
Well now, how helpful am I? One day, I'll have to call in all these favours you guys owe me, haha. Don't expect to see me in person, though. I'll probably send one of my gay, lilac-suited mulleted henchmen to do my dirty work for me. So be afraid, my pretties, be very afraid. Or not, whatever. It's all good...!
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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