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#495 - Outrage
Takeshi Kitano, 2010
The alliance between a group of Yakuza clans starts to come apart after a minor dispute escalates into all-out war.
In 2000, Takeshi Kitano attempted to bring his own idiosyncratic brand of crime drama to the United States with Brother, which saw him play a Yakuza lieutenant who had to be relocated to Los Angeles. It down-played the existential nature of a Yakuza film like Sonatine in favour of a complex power struggle between both American and Japanese gangsters that stands out in my memory mainly for just how freely it was willing to kill off, well, pretty much every character, often in some extremely gruesome ways (the scene involving chopsticks and one particularly foolhardy henchman's nose isn't going to leave my memory anytime soon...) It was an enjoyable enough film that had a fair bit of Kitano's usual charm but not enough to make it truly great (though I wouldn't hesitate to rewatch it). Even so, it wasn't that much of a commercial or critical success and Kitano has since expressed dissatisfaction with the film. I bring this up because Outrage feels like an attempt to refine that film's pulpy structure as it centres on a Yakuza kingpin's plan to rein in an unaffiliated minor clan by using one of his associates to do the dirty work for him. Of course, this seemingly simple plan escalates due to a variety of factors and soon a war erupts not just between different clans but also between the members of each individual clan as the betrayals and bodies pile up.
Outrage may not be much of a challenger for Kitano's best film but it's fairly uncomplicated in terms of what it sets out to do. The plot may get a little convoluted at times but it's still capable of keeping your attention no matter what. A lot of that is down to the frequently vicious acts of violence that are perpetrated by the various criminals, not just against each other but also against less deserving victims (most notably the put-upon Ghanaian ambassador who is constantly coerced and blackmailed into helping out the Yakuza). Some of them are darkly comical and play to Kitano's rather warped sense of humour, such as a sequence involving the unfortunate proprietor of a noodle bar. Some of them can be genuinely unsettling - let's just say that the most unforgettable scene involves a serious misuse of dental equipment. Characters are given just enough definition to not be flat vessels of mayhem but not enough for most of them to be sufficiently sympathetic. Kitano himself seems to play a supporting role at first as he spends much of the first half in the background but he soon emerges as a sufficiently compelling (if not particularly likeable) character. Your tolerance for Outrage will definitely depend on how well you can handle a film about despicable characters killing each other for a hundred straight minutes (to say nothing of Kitano's own particular style of filmmaking, though here it's relatively accessible). Fortunately, I can definitely handle Kitano's strange cinematic rhythms, which adds to the brutal gangland chaos that is weaved in and out of this twisted thriller and makes for an adequately entertaining experience.
Takeshi Kitano, 2010
The alliance between a group of Yakuza clans starts to come apart after a minor dispute escalates into all-out war.
In 2000, Takeshi Kitano attempted to bring his own idiosyncratic brand of crime drama to the United States with Brother, which saw him play a Yakuza lieutenant who had to be relocated to Los Angeles. It down-played the existential nature of a Yakuza film like Sonatine in favour of a complex power struggle between both American and Japanese gangsters that stands out in my memory mainly for just how freely it was willing to kill off, well, pretty much every character, often in some extremely gruesome ways (the scene involving chopsticks and one particularly foolhardy henchman's nose isn't going to leave my memory anytime soon...) It was an enjoyable enough film that had a fair bit of Kitano's usual charm but not enough to make it truly great (though I wouldn't hesitate to rewatch it). Even so, it wasn't that much of a commercial or critical success and Kitano has since expressed dissatisfaction with the film. I bring this up because Outrage feels like an attempt to refine that film's pulpy structure as it centres on a Yakuza kingpin's plan to rein in an unaffiliated minor clan by using one of his associates to do the dirty work for him. Of course, this seemingly simple plan escalates due to a variety of factors and soon a war erupts not just between different clans but also between the members of each individual clan as the betrayals and bodies pile up.
Outrage may not be much of a challenger for Kitano's best film but it's fairly uncomplicated in terms of what it sets out to do. The plot may get a little convoluted at times but it's still capable of keeping your attention no matter what. A lot of that is down to the frequently vicious acts of violence that are perpetrated by the various criminals, not just against each other but also against less deserving victims (most notably the put-upon Ghanaian ambassador who is constantly coerced and blackmailed into helping out the Yakuza). Some of them are darkly comical and play to Kitano's rather warped sense of humour, such as a sequence involving the unfortunate proprietor of a noodle bar. Some of them can be genuinely unsettling - let's just say that the most unforgettable scene involves a serious misuse of dental equipment. Characters are given just enough definition to not be flat vessels of mayhem but not enough for most of them to be sufficiently sympathetic. Kitano himself seems to play a supporting role at first as he spends much of the first half in the background but he soon emerges as a sufficiently compelling (if not particularly likeable) character. Your tolerance for Outrage will definitely depend on how well you can handle a film about despicable characters killing each other for a hundred straight minutes (to say nothing of Kitano's own particular style of filmmaking, though here it's relatively accessible). Fortunately, I can definitely handle Kitano's strange cinematic rhythms, which adds to the brutal gangland chaos that is weaved in and out of this twisted thriller and makes for an adequately entertaining experience.