The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films
Author: Mark Schilling
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
335 pages
ISBN: 1880656760
Published: 2003
Reviewed by Eric Evans
If you love Japanese film you’re probably well acquainted with the writing of Mark Schilling (below left), film critic for The Japan Times. His weekly reviews and occasional interviews with filmmakers are a must read around these parts, owing to his reliably good taste and clear, smart, compelling writing. He has arguably the sweetest gig in all of J-film criticism, and he makes the most of it.
Given the volume of work he produces and his passion for the films themselves, it’s no surprise that he has books focusing on specific genres on the market. His “No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema” is an invaluable guide to the sharp, stylish films of Nikkatsu’s pre-pink prime. And though it covers a much broader topic, “The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films” manages to touch on the major players and films. Broken up into three main sections, the book profiles and interviews directors, then actors, then supplies many dozens of reviews of titles from the popular (“Fudoh”, “Battles Without Honor and Humanity”) to the virtually unknown outside of Japanese video stores (“Level”, “Minazuki”). If you’re unfamiliar with Schilling’s reviewing style, he’s fair to genre films in that he judges them by what they are and what they’re supposed to be. In many cases he supplies substantive story summaries, which is helpful with the more obscure titles. If you enjoy the genre, the book will send you off to hunt for many, many movies.
“The Yakuza Movie Book” isn’t a scholarly work immersing its subjects in sociopolitical context and demanding frequent flipping to endnotes. If anything it errs on the populist side, assuming the reader might have an interest in the subject yet not an encyclopedic knowledge of it. It’s a smooth and smart read, and owing to its segmentation can be read all at once or in very short bursts, particularly good for bedside reading. Schilling has me excited to see new films and given me food for thought when revisiting classics of the genre, and there’s really no better recommendation for the book than that.
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