Director: Yasuharu Hasebe.
Starring: Akira Kobayashi, Jo Shishido, Hideaki Nitani, Tamio Kawaji, Meiko Kaji, Jiro Okazaki.
Running Time: 95 minutes
Certificate: 18
Extras: Interview with Jo Hishido, Interview with Tony Rayns, Original Trailer, Gallery of Promotional Material,
Arrow once again delve into the archives of production company Nikkatsu, who would later become famed for pornography, rather than daring gangster epics such as RETALIATION. Hasebe takes control of a script from Yoshihiro Ishimatsu and Keiji Kubota, who have managed to cram in everything you’d expect from a sprawling gangster picture, only crammed into 95 minutes. It makes for a wonderfully taut thriller, but there are moments and relationship that could be expanded upon.
Starting with the release of Jiro (Kobayashi), a one time up and coming gangster, after seven years in prison, he discovers his family have fallen from grace and are now controlled by a another Don. He is quickly offered a job as a peace offering as the new yakuza family wishes to expand. From this we enter a world of violent crime bosses, people looking for revenge, and farmers being forced from their homes in seedy land deals. It’s a lot to take in, and perhaps one viewing won’t be enough for many, but Kobayashi weaves the individual strands together in a way that represents just how much is going on and how the passage of time must feel to those involved. It’s all over in a blur before anyone really knows what has happened.
The violence is never comfortable in RETALIATION, nor is it taken for granted. It is very commendable that the film forgoes the trope of showing the seductive lure of the gangster lifestyle, and instead presents it as more of a necessity for these men. We see very little of the world outside the yakuza lifestyle, making it feel even more alien.
Stylish and still very current, RETALIATION is a little gem that needs to be experienced by a wider audience. WIth great music and an uncountable array of brilliant performances, this is a memorable effort that promised so much more than the sexploitation absurdity that Kobayashi would later give us in the form of RAPE!, RAPE! 13TH HOUR, and RAPING! The package from Arrow is another world class effort, with great artwork, incredible transfer, and some very interesting and enlightening extras.
RETALIATION is out now.
