A Yakuza in Love 1997

cool guys being cool

Have you gotten thus far?

The official Asian Cinema Takeout Fanzine movie list.

For so many people around the globe their vision of Japan has been coloured by geisha, ikebana, cherry blossoms, and tea ceremonies. For fans of Japanese films, though, that genteel tourist exterior gives way to towering monsters from kaiju films, lethal and highly-skilled samurai, and even the complex and colourful world of anime. Of all the cultural icons exported overseas by Japanese movies one may have has captured the imaginations of audiences more than all of those combined, that of the Japanese mob, the yakuza. Unlike Hollywood gangsters all the way from the roles of Edward G. Robinson up to HBO's "The Sopranos" the yakuza were (and still are) a criminal organization steeped in ritual and mystery. While in reality the yakuza grew from violent street gangs who ruled Japan's black market on movie screens they replaced samurai as a way to explore traditional values of loyalty, feudalism, and the warrior spirit during a time when these very values were being discouraged or just plain banned by the Post-War occupying U.S. forces. Of course these snarling, swaggering, tattooed gangsters have had their screen personas revamped any number of times through the decades and have ultimately fallen out of favor with Japanese movie audiences yakuza eiga have remained one of the most popular genres of Japanese film overseas. To honour these cinematic mobsters the J-Film Pow-Wow would like to present our top ten favorite yakuza films. Enjoy!"

Source: http://jfilmpowwow.blogspot.ch/2009/08/our-top-ten-favorite-yakuza-films.html