Summary
A bloody adaptation that recalls the height of the yakuza genre. However, even a terrific cast can’t sustain the intensity.
Kazuya Shiraishi’s latest feature is not the kind you want to watch too close to a meal. Opening as it does with a shot of a pig defecating, the byproduct of which is subsequently fed to a torture victim, it’s a stark contrast to last year’s Birds Without Names. This throwback to the Jitsuroku eiga strand of yakuza films never quite gets past this focus on excess, which is a shame given the talent involved.
This history is noted early on, as a slideshow montage mixed with “archival” footage of gang history shows the rise of gangs in the Kurehara. The story proper begins in Hiroshima in 1988, where rookie Detective Shuichi Hioka (Tori Matsuzaka) is partnered with Detective Shogo Ogami (Koji Yakusho), who is rumoured to have ties to the yakuza. As a war brews between rival gangs, Hioka tries to determine ‘Gami’s loyalty and his role in the delicate ecosystem.
Based on the novel by Yuko Yuzuki, the adaptation by Junya Ikegami struggles to maintain a cohesive narrative throughout the lengthy running time. BLOOD OF WOLVES (孤狼の血) delivers most of its intensity in the bloody and chaotic first half, and for all of its excesses is a difficult film to look away from. As the film gives way to Hioka’s investigation, it loses some of its focus, and risks becoming a generic mob film.
Screen veteran Yakusho, however, is a force to be reckoned with. Swinging on a dime from a cool, calm, and collected cop to a violent psycho with a hairpin trigger, this character has no qualms about arson, theft, trespassing, and brutal beatings to get the job done. “Our job’s to keep them neutered,” says the anti-hero, justifying his actions. “Neither dead nor alive.”
He’s not wrong: the absence of characters like him builds to an all-out war and double-crossing, house-cleaning body count that rivals the endings of Infernal Affairs, The Departed, and The Outrage series combined. Here we also get to see the legendary Renji Ishibashi involved in a throat-slashing dispatch that would make Takashi Miike blush.
If you’re wanting a straight-up blood-fuelled yakuza thrill, then BLOOD OF WOLVES might just be the ticket for you. Shiraishi leaves us safe in the knowledge that the circle of death will continue, and sometimes you need to be a little bit tainted to maintain the line between darkness and light. It’s just a shame that some of that balance couldn’t be maintained for the two-hours of storytelling.
2018 | Japan | DIR: Kazuya Shiraishi | WRITER: Junya Ikegami (Based on a novel by Yuko Yuzuki) | CAST: Tori Matsuzaka, Koji Yakusho, Yoko Maki | DISTRIBUTOR: Toei Company, Sydney Film Festival (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 126 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6 June 2018 (SFF)
