Everyone is at war in Kinji Fukasaku's kinetic, action-packed Yakuza Graveyard: cops and criminals, men and women, locals and outsiders. Manchurian-born cop Kuroiwa (Tokyo Drifter's tightly-wound Tetsuya Watari), the central character, punches first and asks questions later. His brute-force methods got him ejected from his previous precinct, and his new superior officers, including Chief Muramoto (In the Realm of the Senses filmmaker Nagisa Ôshima), view him with wariness, but his relentlessness gets results, especially when it comes to the yakuza.
Kuroiwa's transfer to a new precinct coincides with a volatile clan situation. During a time of economic stagnation, the Yamashiro super-clan has been encroaching on Nishida turf, and Muramoto urges his men to do all they can to prevent all-out war. When Kuroiwa tracks down the junior Nishida members responsible for a string of petty crimes, from larceny to property damage, he brings them in—after roughing them up—and finds himself invited to a clan gathering.
After a rough start, he agrees to an information-exchange arrangement, in the process befriending Korean-born clan leader Iwaki (Fukasaku mainstay Tatsuo Umemiya), aka the Bull, and part-Korean clan treasurer Keiko (Lady Snowblood's Meiko Kaji), wife of former leader Matsunaga (Graveyard of Honor's Kenji Imai), now incarcerated due to a murder conviction.
For all his knuckle-cracking, Kuroiwa has a soft spot for a woman in need. Two years before, he killed a pimp, and saved his girlfriend's life. They've been together ever since, but when Keiko asks him to drive her to visit Matsunaga in prison, the two become close, not least when Kuroiwa finds out that the ex-leader made her walk the streets when she was 13. Matsunaga also insults her Korean heritage. Moments later, she and Kuroiwa are enjoying a From Here to Eternity-style beach-side embrace.
As Kuroiwa gets to know the Nishida, he finds the clan members more honorable than the gang at headquarters, most of whom are in the pocket of the Yamashiro. He and Iwaki even become blood brothers, a rarity among cops and yakuza, Japanese and Korean, but a man can't serve two masters, and his superior officers believe he's let himself get too cozy with the Nishida.
Meanwhile, his two-timing girlfriend begs him to buy her a bar, the clan urges him to stop seeing the boss's wife, and Keiko plots their escape. It might sound soapy, but it definitely doesn't play that way as Kuroiwa gets into fisticuffs wherever he goes, listens to rock music so loud his neighbors call the cops, and turns vigilante when forced to act against his principles.
Yakuza Graveyard represented the final collaborations between Fukasaka and screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honor and Humanity) and actress Kaji. Though the film stands on its own, complaints about the lack of Korean characters in their previous work inspired Kasahara's screenplay. It's a violent film that hews toward the lurid, but there's never a dull moment, and the chemistry between Kuroiwa and Keiko adds some much-needed tenderness to the tough scenario.
What kind of film series would this narrative fit in?
Yakuza Graveyard would fit into film series on Japanese cinema of the 1970s or the films of Kinji Fukasaku.
What kind of film collection would this title be suitable for?
Yakuza Graveyard would be suitable for Japanese-language and crime film collections in academic and public libraries.
What type of library programming could use this title?
Library programming on the yakuza film in all its stages, i.e. the chivalry and true account film, would find an exciting selection in Yakuza Graveyard. Though unrated, it would qualify as an R for violence if classified by the MPAA.