Cops vs. Thugs

Kinji Fukasaku's 1975 film is about a fight over land between two yakuza families in a port city. But its real subject is the position of the police within that fight. Detective Kuno has worked closely with the Ohara family for years; he drinks with them, solves their problems and takes information in return. The film argues that this relationship is not corruption but the order itself. The division of labour between yakuza and police produces a certain stability on the street; when an honest prosecutor arrives from the centre and disturbs the balance, the violence increases. Fukasaku clears nobody. Bunta Sugawara plays Kuno. The telling proceeds through handheld camera, hard cuts and shots that read as documentary, the known language of Fukasaku's yakuza films in the seventies. Who it's for: those who like Japanese crime cinema and Fukasaku. Who it's not for: viewers who want to avoid graphic violence; the film shows it constantly and directly.