FEMALE YAKUZA TALE: INQUISITION AND TORTURE - DVD review

To counter the continued decline in cinema attendance throughout the 1960's due to the rapidly emerging popularity of television, some independent Japanese film studios decided to create a new genre of film that they hoped would help jumpstart the industry. Introduced sometime in the early 60's, these films became known as pinku eiga or pink films, a form of softcore pornographic films. Unlike its hardcore Western counterpart, these pink films were intended for theatrical release and have to conform to strict Japanese screen censorship laws, which prohibits the depiction of genitilia and pronounced sexual activity. Using the genre's required sex scenes as a form of titillation may be its primary objective but as this genre grew, it eventually matured into adding some sort of character and story development as well. In any case, even offering big helpings of nudity and sex is sometimes not enough to lure an audience back. To further spice things up, gore and violence was later added into the mix, which, by most account, seems like a natural progression for these types of exploitation films.

In the early 1970's, Toei Studios came up with a sub-genre of pinku eiga that has become known as "Pinky Violence". This new sub-genre of tough girl exploitation films features unbridled nudity, gratuitous violence and even scenes of bondage and sadomasochism. Essentially, Toei produced two types of "Pinky Violence" films: one is the sukeban (delinquent girl boss) films and the other, the Elder Sister films.

Whenever a film achieves surprising overnight success, the urge to quickly greenlight a sequel in order to take full advantage of the current film's popularity is too much of an open opportunity to pass up. This mantra rings especially true when the film in question, "Sex & Fury" was undoubtedly one of Japanese exploitation guru, Norifumi Suzuki's better films. The first of two Elder Sister films, "Sex & Fury" was Toei Studios over-the-top response to rival studio, Toho's successful manga-based "Lady Snowblood" (1973) film that starred the irresistible Meiko Kaji. Jacking up the "blood and breast" quotient into the stratosphere, "Sex & Fury" established a new level for exploitation films.

Believe it or not, the sequel to "Sex & Fury", titled "Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition and Torture" (in Japanese, Yasagure Anego Den: Sokatsu Rinchi, which literally translate into "Story of Wild Elder Sister: Widespread Lynch Law") went even further than its predecessor. This time directed by Teruo Ishii, "Female Yakuza Tale" still stars the beautiful Reiko Ike, who reprises the role of Ocho, the Elder Sister, whose skill with a samurai sword matches her enchanting beauty and erotic endeavors. To devotees of Japanese sexploitation cinema, the name Teruo Ishii is synonymous with the images of the ero-guro (erotic-grotesque) flicks that he is so famous for. Gathered under the general title of "Joys of Torture", Ishii's unique brand of erotic/torture films is prominently on display in notorious films like Tokugawa Onna Keibatsushi (Punishment of the Tokugawa Women, 1968) and Tokugawa Irezumi Shi: Seme Jigoku (Tokugawa Tattoo History: Torture Hell, 1969). With Ishii in the director's chair, "Female Yakuza Tale" was given a slightly toned down (no full-on torture) but no less outrageous treatment befitting the director's reputation.

Unlike the outstanding "Sex & Fury", "Female Yakuza Tale" lacks any coherent narrative. The audience more or less knows what is in store for them when this film opens with a swordfight in the rain, reminiscent of the well-choreographed one from the first movie. Here, Ocho fights a group of thugs and gradually sheds her clothes in the process, so that towards by end of the sequence, you get to see a fully naked Ocho swinging her deadly sword and dispatching the bad guys in her own unique way. The problem is, there is absolutely no explanation for this fight was about and it doesn't even have any connection to the film in any way. It is, by all accounts, a stunt introduction to say, "Hey! Look at me. I'm naked and I can sure use a sword!" So much for being subtle. If Ishii was trying to copy Suzuki's excellent effort from "Sex & Fury", it was already coming up short right off the bat.

Unwittingly caught up in a sinister plot to smuggle contraband, Ocho becomes a surviving victim of the so-called "crotch-gouge" murders. In recent months, several women have been found dead with their private parts ravaged. Framed by the real perpetrators for the murders, Ocho manages to escape and as any respectable heroine would do, vows to rain down terror on the men responsible. At its core, this film deals with the Yakuza's drug smuggling operation that use a group of prostitutes as drug mules (you can probably guess by now where the vials of drugs are hidden!). As Ocho tracks the gang down, she meets up with Jyoji (Ryohei Uchida), a former Yakuza member who was just released from prison and is looking to gain back his status as the leader of the Ogi clan. It so happens that the now deceased Old Boss of the Ogi clan once helped Ocho through tough times when she was younger. The current boss, Mr. Goda (Tetsuo Endo) is a lecherous villain who is largely responsible for the drug smuggling ring that makes use of the women. As one would expect, Ocho eventually teams up with Jyoji, the band of prostitutes victimized by the clan and a weird group of vigilante women whose leader, Yoshimi crosses herself before she kills ("when I pray, I kill"), to oppose the Yakuza.

If the images of violence and erotic sex scenes in "Sex & Fury" could be described as gratuitous, "Female Yakuza Tale" takes that to whole new level. This time, there is no simple rationale for the wanton nudity; it's just there because, well, the director wanted it. Notoriously lacking any sort of restraint, "Female Yakuza Tale" throws almost everything at its audience, including a strange scene at an asylum complete with crazy mimes that bears all the hallmarks of Ishii's weird vision. Some scenes can even be hard to watch even though they are, for whatever reasons, meant to be humorous, as it significantly displays the exploitation/torture aspect of this film. Pulling no punches, the climatic fight scene pushes the envelope on nudity and violence by having a large group of naked women fight the Yakuza men, with Ocho as their leader. It is literally complete mayhem as samurai swords are swung, shots are fired and blood gets splattered in every direction and on every naked body. The visual lunacy of this final fight scene is capped by a group golden shower performed by the girls on one of the men.

While stylistic imagery was an important and visually pleasing aspect of Norifumi Suzuki's first Elder Sister film, Ishii literally takes a brute force approach to this sequel. Artistic elements are practically non-existent, as some of the sets can be deemed minimalist or even in more crude terms, just bare. Maybe it was the lower budget set aside for this movie when compared to "Sex & Fury" or the short timeframe that he had to shoot, but Ishii could have done better with the choreographing of the fight scenes or the story itself, co-written by Ishii and Masahiro Kakefuda (who also co-wrote "Sex & Fury"). With the watered down material that she had to work with, Reiko Ike herself is considerably less effective in this film. Gone are the intense emotions so clearly reflected in Ike's face as she exacted revenge on her father's murderers.

Although largely underwhelming when compared to "Sex & Fury", "Female Yakuza Tale" is yet another great example of Toei's immense contribution to the 70's sexploitation genre.

Video:
Like "Sex & Fury", Panik House has done a remarkable job restoring this film to a near pristine condition. Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the anamorphically enhanced video images on this DVD must certainly look as good as it did when it was released more than thirty years ago. The details are astounding and the vivid colors, just amazingly reproduced. On the flip side, there are very minor issues like some minute traces of dirt and speckles on the print or the softness in some scenes. The only subtitle option available on this DVD is English.

Audio:
The only audio option available here is the original Japanese language Mono track. Even though it is delivered on a single channel (through the center speaker in a 5.1 setup), this Mono track contains almost stereo-like qualities, producing a deep and wide sound field that adds depth to the aural experience. Unlike "Sex & Fury", the soundtrack this time contains some forgettable themes that are made up largely of an electric bass arrangement.

Extras:
The special features on this DVD are in every way similar to the one featured on the "Sex & Fury" DVD. Starting off, we have an audio commentary by Chris D., a film programmer for the American Cinematheque, who is pretty knowledgeable about Japanese cinema. Chris D.'s comments about the film may be sparse and you get some dead air in between but when he gets going on a particular subject, there is good information to be had. Next we have the "Original Theatrical Trailer" (in anamorphic widescreen) and "Posters & Still Galleries", which includes four promotional art stills and ten black and white production stills from the film.

In addition, there are also informational and historical features like "Director & Star Bios", which presents biographical and filmography information for Teruo Ishii and Reiko Ike. Finally, there are two very informational pieces by Chris D., which provides historical background on first, this film in "Production Notes" and then--similar to the one from the "Sex & Fury" DVD--on Toei's contribution to Japanese exploitation films in "Toei's Bad Girl Cinema".

Packaging:
Like the packaging for the "Sex & Fury" DVD, the package here is similarly quite unique. The DVD is encased in a minimalist-type translucent keepcase, which is then placed inside a clear transparent plastic jacket that contains the cover art and DVD information.

Film Value:
It is inherently hard to justify the existence of a film genre that demeans its female characters and treats them as simply objects that exist solely to satisfy men in a sexual context. However, the world is not perfect and these types of films do exist. The two Elder Sister films that I have reviewed so far do not stray far from the exploitation formula except for the fact that both films' main protagonist is a woman who can certainly stand her ground. In fact, many of the Japanese exploitation films do use women in strong roles who often use their sexuality to further their own agenda or to fight for justice. "Female Yakuza Tale" is not the grand sequel to "Sex & Fury" that I had expected. Immediately, you can see the big difference in Teruo Ishii's almost-rustic vision for this film when compared to Norifumi Suzuki's stylistic sets and artistic vision that was so prominently on display in "Sex & Fury". But at the end of the day, both films seem to complement one another, creating a fitting tribute to the Elder Sister character, Ocho and to its talented star, Reiko Ike.