“you know you’re dealing with the yakuza, right?” [takeshi kitano’s outrage]
December 13th, 2011 by david brothers | Tags: roc marciano, takeshi kitanoI saw Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage at the Shattuck in Berkeley this past weekend. It’s my… probably third time seeing it. I bootlegged it back in 2010 when it dropped, and then I bought an official Hong Kong Blu-ray of it. It’s a thoroughly unromantic movie on pretty much every possible level. It’s not the sexy kind of crime movie, not even close. And that got me thinking.
I’m listening to this album right now, Greneberg
Part of the appeal of crime fiction is watching someone live out a fantasy that you wouldn’t mind being a part of. It isn’t aspirational exactly, but it’s in the same neighborhood. It gives you a chance to see someone live life according to his own rules, no matter who stands in his way. Sometimes that means Rae and Ghost playing at being coke kingpins. Other times, it’s about DMX raping and murdering everything in sight. It’s transgressive, but in an attractive way. It lets you step outside yourself and into someone else’s shoes.
Why do good girls go for bad guys? Because bad guys lead interesting lives.
I think this is particularly true of crime fiction featuring the yakuza. There’s an exoticness there that’s definitely attractive. The semi-legitimate and public nature of the yakuza, when combined with the organizational structure, fashion, history, and tattoos, is something entirely different from the mafia or street gangs. It’s cooler to read about and more interesting to study. That distance between what we know (mafia) and what we don’t know (yakuza) makes for a tale with built-in appeal.
Outrage feels like a response to the sexiness of the yakuza. I say that it’s unromantic because there is nothing aspirational, or even escapist, about the yakuza in the film. There aren’t any young, attractive dudes following an honorable code of their own. Tattoos are only shown before acts of violence and aren’t idolized in the least. The yakuza themselves, from the boss on down, are disloyal and dishonest, more than willing to lie to their boss’s face or deal drugs if it’ll make them money.
The dishonesty is what’s most interesting, I think. The movie gets going when a boss suggests that a sub-boss re-examine his ties with a man from a rival crew. The underling’s solution is to have Otomo, played by Takeshi Kitano, use his gang to start a minor argument. Otomo, ever-loyal, does just that, and what follows are a series of betrayals on every possible level. Boss betrays sub-boss, sub-boss betrays friend, and everything rolls downhill.
Thinking about it, Outrage is about a lack of integrity. The members of Otomo’s gang range from loyal to disloyal, but the traitors never cross Otomo in an open way. They skim off the top and look for ways to make their lives better. They do their dirt in secret, just like everyone else. The bosses speak out against dealing drugs, but just do it on the side anyway.
I can only think of one character with a speaking role who isn’t compromised. He’s a cop whose anger at a smoking yakuza is far out of proportion. His anger suggests frustration and impotence more than anything else. He isn’t telling the yakuza not to litter because he really believes in keeping the environment clean. He’s telling him that because that’s the only level of control he can exert over them. (There’s a couple of others who speak, generally waiters or greeters, but they say nothing of substance beyond “irasshaimase” and maybe “arigato gozaimasu.”)
That’s because a high-ranking and upwardly mobile officer is in bed with the yakuza. He lets them know about surveillance, drops tips in their lap, and takes part in sham interrogations. But he’s nothing more than a crony. He sold his soul for cash, and once he’s no longer useful, he’s no longer going to be paid.
One of the more interesting characters is a civilian who uses his place to throw parties with drugs and gambling. That lack of integrity makes him vulnerable to being taken advantage of, and when he sees a way to get out of his predicament, he trades freedom for money. He follows his baser instincts.
Outrage explores corruption and the fact that it isn’t something you can easily contain. It seeps and spreads and infests and eventually ends you. There are a few characters that aren’t loathsome (Otomo, Ozawa, and Mizuno), but you don’t want to be any of them. You don’t even want to step into their shoes to get just a taste of the life. This movie isn’t about the triumph of a criminal so much as the downfall of one. They’re all mired in corruption and compromise, and it damns them.
Not to say there aren’t several cool characters, of course. I liked Ishihara, who was played by Ryō Kase. Mizuno (Kippei Shiina) was great. Ozawa was played by Tetta Sugimoto, who is the exact kind of older dude who can really anchor a movie. I’d like to see more with that guy, in fact. But I like these characters in spite of their actions, not because of them. They played their roles to the hilt, but I never wanted to slip into their lives for a moment.
Outrage is good stuff. I liked it a lot, in part because it was so unsentimental and raw. There’s no fantasy here, nothing you’ll daydream about doing. Scarface is an intensely aspirational and escapist movie, and even though Tony dies at the end, it doesn’t play out like Outrage does. Tony led a glamorous and amazing life before Sosa takes him down. In Outrage, you get the barest glimpse of the benefits of life in the yakuza, and that’s always tainted.
You can rent it
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This gave me some pretty good language to think about why I like crime rap. I think it can’t hurt that due to a number of petty and unreformed laws in the United States, many of us know that we’re minor criminals and spend a little time hoping we won’t get caught.
Thanks for pointing out that upcoming release – heard about this earlier in the year and at the time there were no plans for a US copy, had kinda written it off barring a buddy hitting up Tokyo.
I’ve not liked Pill as much as I previously had, lately. Nothing to do with Maybach – I just didn’t feel The Diagnosis and the Overdose was far too filler-heavy, even for a mixtape. Dude’s got incredible potential though; I’m hoping that his time with MMG will help unleash it.
A big fan of Gangsta Gibbs and Roc Marciano, personally. Jay Rock is the only other similar candidate I think worthy of being on their level at the moment.
Will be checking out this film, cheers.
This movie perfectly captured my fear of the Dentist SO WELL, also I loved the very dark comedic vein the movie had. It has gotten me to check out more of Kitano’s films (Fireworks is INCREDIBLE)
I meant to ask: is that trailer misleading, or does this film really contain yet another scene from a Japanese movie where a black guy acts tough and then the Japanese characters show him that he’s all bluster and thus prove their seriousness
While I normally avoid Hermanos articles due to me not caring about rap, I do appreciate a new Beat film being brought to my attention. It’s kinda hard to find out about those without monitoring IMDB or Wikipedia or something all the time.
@super nintendo chalmers: cool story dude
@Don Delgado: It happens, but it’s a little better in context. It’s not so much that he acts tough as he is… scared enough to say no.
@Rick: True story: The dentist bit caught me by surprise the first time, I didn’t watch it the second time (eyes closed for mental health!), and then the third time happened and I realized it was coming and tried to watch it. I was only halfway successful.
@Eamon: I haven’t heard Jay Rock, I’ll have to dig up a mixtape or something. I like Pill a lot, but I agree that his last mixtape was a little too long. I felt similarly about Big KRIT’s latest, to be honest. When he’s on, though, he’s on. Hopefully he can keep that Maybach visibility and keep spitting like back when he was Grind Time Rap Gang.
@Don Delgado: “illegal business controls america”
I hadn’t heard about this. I loved Sonatine and Kikujiro, but wasn’t really into Brother, and haven’t seen any of his movies since. I have to complement the man for his range, considering that he started as a stand-up comedian and yet has also produced dramatic, affecting films.
Dude, watch Battles Without Honor Or Humanity. Very similar themes, a de-mythologizing of the Yakuza in which everyone is intensely self-interested and corrupted and compromised. Directed by the great Kinji Fukasaku & featuring the great Bunta Sugawara (whose role arguably could be seen to provide a touch of idealism – he’s the last honest Yakuza). But it’s a great, great, great film.
@Gaijin D: I think I explained him to a friend like “What if Robin Williams starred in the Godfather?” at one point, yeah.
@Anonymous San Franciscan: I own that boxed set! I have a few films left to watch, but I like them a lot.
Here’s a good companion piece to Outrage by Jake Adelstein:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/23/japanese-yakuza-get-expelled-from-entertainment-industry.html
Key quote:
Kitano’s last film, Outrage is the most accurate portrayal of the modern Yakuza ever. The film is a diatribe against them, showing how the traditional yakuza that upheld some primitive code of honor end up being betrayed or killed. The ones that survive are those who are ruthless, backstabbing businessmen—Goldman Sachs with guns.
If you want to understand the modern yakuza, Outrage is a fantastic introductory course. There is a reason that the Japanese public is finally fed up with the yakuza, and it’s because the new breed of yakuza does not live up to any code at all.
@david brothers: cool 4chan meme, faggot. but seriously thanks for making your articles clear via the title so I can be sure which ones aren’t worth reading.
@super nintendo chalmers: I’m not sure what I said was a 4chan meme, but thanks for reading.
@david brothers: Do you mean Return of 4eva? Because I love that album. Last King 2 was pretty shite but it was so obviously just a collection of appearances cobbled together, honestly I’ve pretty much forgotten it by now beyond a few tight tracks.
Jay Rock’s out of LA and part of Black Hippy (Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul), dude’s got an amazing voice for his raps. Either Black Friday or Follow Me Home would probably be good starting points, I personally prefer Black Friday because A) That’s what I first heard B) Because Follow Me Home suffers from retarded first album decisions syndrome and strange pacing issues (R) West Coast Rappers Everywhere. Not bad by any means, just not as great as it could of been. Dude can surprise you, in a good way.
[…] Movies | David Brothers sings the praises of Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage, an unsparing look at yakuza culture. “There is nothing aspirational, or even escapist, about the yakuza in the film,” he observes. “There aren’t any young, attractive dudes following an honorable code of their own… The yakuza themselves, from the boss on down, are disloyal and dishonest, more than willing to lie to their boss’s face or deal drugs if it’ll make them money.” [4th Letter!] […]