HARAKIRI (1962)

"Who can fathom the depths of another man's heart?"

Japan 1630.  Masterless samurai Tatsuya Nakadai is way down on his luck, so he goes to the estate of a local samurai clan and requests to use their courtyard to commit seppuku.  They grant him entrance, but being suspicious of his intentions, they inform him of how there has been an increased amount of down-on-their-luck ronin going around recently claiming the desire to commit seppuku but are actually just looking for a handout.  In fact, they had one such young fellow in here not too long ago and seeing that he was being untruthful, they forced him to commit seppuku (with a bamboo sword!) even though he begged to be let go.  Tatsuya finds this story to be most interesting...

In the extras on the Criterion release, screenwriter Shinobu (THE SWORD OF DOOM, SEVEN SAMURAI) Hashimoto describes HARAKIRI as "A samurai's bitter ranting at his harakiri ceremony, that's it." and while that is true he neglects to mention that the samurai he's talking about (Tatsuya Nakadai) is one bad motherfucker!  I can't say how badass he is without ruining it for anybody unfortunate enough to have never seen HARAKIRI, but, trust me, he ain't no joke.

Exciting sword fights, massive amounts of talent both in front of and behind the camera, strong script that gives you a lot to think about even after the film is over, steady pace that keeps building the excitement, gravel that mysteriously re-sweeps itself after people walked on it, awesome lighting, believable ending.  Highly recommended.

Double-feature with 1966's THE SWORD OF DOOM.  Also, Tatsuya Nakadai and Tetsuro Tanba would face off again seven years later in GOYOKIN, but it's not nearly as exciting.

YAKUZA DEMON (2003)

Made only a year after DEADLY OUTLAW: RIKKA, YAKUZA DEMON is very similar in story: Foot soldier Seiji (Riki Takeuchi) looks to the boss, Mr. Muto, of his small yakuza family as a father.  So when Mr. Muto owes the larger Date Family money, he agrees to personally kill an executive of the rival Tendo Family in payment for his debt. Seiji knows Mr. Muto will be killed so he calls the cops and they arrest him on minor gun charges. The Date Family believes Mr. Muto chickened out and called the cops himself. Seiji is angered by this insult...things escalate and before long Seiji and his faithful yakuza brother begin attacking the heads of the Tendo themselves. He has become a "stray dog", a "demon".

Despite the colorful title there's nothing excessively bizarre going on like in some other Miike films.  That said, there are a few moments that did stick out for that unique Miike touch: the Date Family bosses are having a meeting and the one boss (Kazuya Nakayama from DETECTIVE STORY) doesn't move at all for 100 seconds!  He just sits there completely motionless, like he's frozen.  Another clever bit was when a yakuza guy goes to eat with his girlfriend.  They're sitting outside under a umbrella and rain (a lot of rain) splashes up on the camera lens, then some dramatic stuff starts happening and suddenly the action is being filmed from a camera shooting the action on a computer monitor!!!  At one moment it even shows the top of the video player!  I don't think I've ever seen that before: a camera recording a monitor displaying the movie we're currently watching and the original camera lens is covered in rain.  When the one guy fires his gun the muzzle flash reflects on the water on the camera lens!  Absolutely brilliant.

Amazing cast, quick pace, brilliant editing, a Miike cameo(?), cinematography that should be studied in film school and, of course, great direction.  Highly recommended.  Double feature with DEADLY OUTLAW REKKA.

Also make sure to watch the extremely funny alternate ending which is a play on the insane ending from DEAD OR ALIVE.  I liked it even better than the real ending.