BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY / THE YAKUZA PAPERS, VOL. 1: BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY / THE YAKUZA PAPERS / COMBAT WITHOUT A CODE (JINGI NAKI TATAKAI). Viewed on DVD. Restoration/preservation = seven (7) stars; subtitles = five (5) stars; cinematography = four (4) stars; sound = two (2) stars; story/script = one (1) star. Director Kinji Fukasaku's homage to apparent hoodlum life in Western Japan following WW II by violently re-imaging petty criminal activities and the black market based on published depictions of claimed real-life events (plus news-reel sensationalizing hype). The Director started a sub-genre of "kill-first-maybe-ask-questions-later gangster soap operas that remain popular to this day. It's every hood for him/herself which is how the Director treats viewers vainly searching for a fragment of sense and cohesion in this run-amok chaotic film! There is no consistent plot-line except that it always takes 6-8 shots (a full clip) to kill-off a character (at the rate of one every 3-5 minutes or so). Fukasaku has front loaded his movie with a multitude of characters to provide a near infinite source of hand-gun fodder (and to try to hide the absence of a meaningful script!). Ensemble acting is not particularly distinguished and ranges from the melodramatic (hoodlum "bosses" resorting to tears when conning their brood) to workman-like line readings. Hood fights closely resemble fraternity-party Pile Ons! A gratuitous "pink" porno scene is tossed into the pot to break up the monotony of gun fire. Cinematography (2.35:1, color) mostly deploys a shaky/grainy hand-held process to (apparently) enhance the documentary film flavor (the names and death dates of killed-off characters are usually posted and a voice-over often occurs in news-reel style). Editing is used to simulate action with rapid-cut close-ups (often appearing out of focus due to the wide screen format) at the start of the film. Audio needs some serious re-looping. Every gun shot sounds exactly the same; most scenes contain background noise that resembles cheap electric toothbrushes (interestingly, each speaking character seems to have a different toothbrush running on the sound track!). Subtitles can flash by too fast. Silly and juvenile. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
Review of Battles Without Honor and Humanity
