Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza (1968)

With his penultimate film, Uchida revisited one of his popular prewar titles, 1936’s Theatre of Life, an adaptation of Shiro Ozaki’s eponymous novel. Three-time Seijun Suzuki collaborator Goro Tanada wrote a gangsterized adaptation of Ozaki’s story for Uchida at a time when the yakuza had eclipsed the samurai genre as Toei's main cash crop. Protagonist Hishakaku murders a man in a quarrel over a barmaid and goes to jail. In his temporary absence, his girlfriend Otoyo, a former geisha, falls for Hishakaku’s brother, inciting a dangerous love triangle that, in typical yakuza fashion, ends tragically.

Directing:
  • Tomu Uchida

Writing:
  • Gorō Tanada

Stars:
Release Date: 1968-10-25
themoviedb icon 6/10
  • Country: JP
  • Language: 日本語
  • Runtime: 109

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