Final Episode (1974)

☆ ☆ ☆ 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.