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Kiriya (Kippei Shina) and Wang (Tomorowo Taguchi) are both men of Taiwanese descent who have relocated to Japan, but never felt fully accepted by Japanese society at large ... which is already where the similarities end, as Kiriya has become a police detective - who at times bends the laws beyond breaking point to get his man, and who feels perfectly comfortable dishing out police brutalitiy -, Wang's a gangster who's known for his brutal approach to his job that also includes killing opponents in cold blood. Of course, their respective vocations make them natural opponents, but problem is, Kiriya hasn't got a hint of evidence to book Wang ... and that's very problematic because Kiriya's younger brother Yoshihito (Shinsuke Izutsu) works for Wang, and Kiriya desperately tries to keep his brother on the straight and narrow and make a righteous lawyer out of him, but with Wang as his partner, Yoshihito is more likely to walk down a different path ...

Kiriya seizes the opportunity to do some research in Taiwan when he has to fly a prisoner over to the local authorities, and he finds out about a hospital that Wang's financing there - that is part of an organ smuggling ring. Thing is, Wang has found out about Kiriya's investigations, and back in Japan, Kiriya becomes the hunted and almost ends up an unwilling organ donor himself ...

After spending some years making direct-to-video fare, Shinjuku Triad Society was director Takashi Miike's first theatrical feature - and it showed his directorial trademarks pretty much fully developed already, like a predilection for outbursts of the grotesque, suddenly erupting ultra-violence, exaggerations reminiscent of comicbooks, moments of utter insanity and the like. But that said, Shinjuku Triad Society is most certainly more than just an utter freakshow, it's actually a well-written gangster movie that within genre boundaries manages to pack in plenty of surprises, a film that despite all its outrageousness also has its quiet moments, and it's carried by a very solid cast.

Totally worth a watch!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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