☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Final
Episode (1974) – K. Fukasaku
Yes, the final episode in the five-film
Yakuza Papers series (aka Jingi Naki Tatakai) is called Final Episode. However, it is far from final, leaving things
wide open for further yakuza actions in Hiroshima and Kure even as the older
generation finally retires and lets the young upstarts have their way. As with the previous sequels (also all
directed by Fukasaku), this one adds new characters to the plot (particularly
Jo Shishido as a hot-head who doesn’t want to follow the new corporate business
methods of the family), who then interact with the characters that have been
followed from earlier films. Only Bunta
Sugiwara and Nobuo Kaneko seem to have made it through all five films
alive. The typical pattern is for
central characters to get offed, violently.
All told, this was a complex, sometimes confusing (some say Shakespearean),
always tense and very exciting set of films that I recommend for those willing
to withstand the brutality.
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