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Daikanbu - Burai
Gangster VIP 2
The Outlaw Sword
Japan 1968
produced by Kaneo Iwai for Nikkatsu
directed by Keiichi Ozawa
starring Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Kayo Matsuo, Hideaki Nitani, Meiko Kaji, Kunie Tanaka, Izumi Ashikawa, Eimei Esumi, Jukei Fujioka, Shoki Fukae, Joji Hidehara, Seishiro Iwate, Hatsuko Kawahara, Ichiro Kijima, Toshizo Kudo, Jiro Okazaki, Yoshihiko Tabata, Ryohei Uchida, Zenji Yamada, Takeshi Yoshida
screenplay by Kaneo Ikegami, Keiji Kubota, based on the story by Goro Fujita, music by Harumi Ibe
Outlaw: Gangster VIP
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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After the ordeal depicted in the first Gangster
VIP, Goro (Tetsuya Watari) wants to leave Yakuza life for good, so
he moves out to the country where he has already sent his girlfriend
Yukiko (Chieko Matsubara) and wants to make a living by honest work. But
then Yumeko (Kayo Matsuo), fiancée of one of the many killed gangsters
who once fought by Goro's side and who Goro has moved to the country with
Yukiko to get her out of harm's way, falls gravely ill, and he soon has
troubles making ends meet due to Yumeko's medical bills ... but he has met
Kyu, a guy he knows from his Yakuza days ... and before he knows it,
Goro's back in Yokohama and on a clan's payroll. Thing is, he soon finds
out the leader of a rival clan, Asami (Hideaki Nitani) is one of his best
friends from back in the day. And Asami has a sister (Meiko Kaji) who's in
love with a thug of the Kyu clan. Of course, violence soon erupts, and
while Goro always tries to keep things down and tries to persuade members
of his clan to skip town and leave Yakuza life forever, he usually finds
himself in the center of it all, and the gangsters who really try to skip
town on his advice usually end up killed. Thing is, eventually Yumeko
dies, and Goro only finds out when Yukiko shows up at his doorstep as all
telegrams leading up to the fact have been destroyed by Kyu, who had never
had any interest in letting Gogo go ... and now Goro doesn't know where
his allegiances are anymore and soon finds himself at odds with every
Yakuza in town ... when all he wanted in life was to leave gangsterdom
behind for good to start a peaceful life where nobody knows him! Narratively,
this movie is a very direct sequel of Gangster
VIP (as noted above), but in its "message" if you will
it goes even further, not only showing its hero Goro being wary of the
Yakuza lifestyle, but pretty much all of the bigger characters are fed up
with it and yearn for a "normal" life - yet nobody can, be it
because they're too tied up in the Yakuza's code of honour or because
they're just driven by personal motives (from need for money to vendetta)
... which makes this film really interesting, as in this one noone seems
to be fighting his own battle anymore, and yet its fought ruthlessly and
pushes everyone on a downward spiral - and all of this is mirrored in some
really nice action setpieces that are not only fascinating because of how
they're choreographed and shot, they also too often show their main
characters in various states of injury battling it out against better
knowledge (or so it seems). And add to that a nicely paced directorial
effort and a very solid cast, and you've got yourself a pretty good movie!
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