The Flower and Angry Waves (1964, Unclassified 18+)

(花と怒濤 / Hana to Doto / aka Flowers and Rage) Dir: SUZUKI Seijin, Japan, 92mins, 35mm

Tokyo’s red-lit Asukusa district: sometime soon after Tashio-era Japan burst into superpower status in 1900s. Modern Yakuza in the making struggle to corner the local building sub-contracting business, with labourers as willing to wield a machete as a hammer in order to keep their job. One is a loner; Kikuji – an ex-gang lieutenant, but now down, out and in hiding after having stolen his boss’s girl. He’s more skilled in a fight than anyone; but he’s also the first one to ask what sort of way it is where one needs to fight and die just to make a living. Suzuki Seijin’s contribution to the Ninkyo sub-genre of Yazuka films is also his The Gangs of New York. Appropriately co-scripted with his film’s art director, Kimura Takeo, it starts off with a subtly critiqued view of the makings of modern Japanese capitalism. It ends in a pure, Suzukian, rainbow-coloured massacre.

Presented with the support of the Japan Foundation.