The Yakuza

Josh Lewis4.0

A very considered, melancholy post-war reckoning of East (in the form of a nasty Japanese yakuza movie) vs. West (the stylish 70s American thriller) that is also just a very good plain old movie about friendship and respect. I do wonder what the thornier version of this protagonist under Aldritch and Marvin might've looked like but Pollack brings a sharp bluntness to this that works with Mitchum's weary honor. I think this Paul Schrader guy is going places.Full discussion on episode 206 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.

matt lynch4.0

"It is Eiko, of course, but it is also Japan."not so much leisurely as patient, not so much relaxed as resigned, a fish-out-of-water thriller in disguise. the west presumes to be able to navigate the otherness of Japan, an otherness its "victorious" privilege prevents it from dispelling, and instead is confronted by the tormented identity crisis that privilege helped create.

Paul Schrader

BOB TOWNE, RIP. It's interesting to see Bob described as the emblem of New Hollywood. When Towne was hired by Sydney Pollack amd WB to rewrite my spec script The Yakuza in 1973 (after myself having failed to satisfy Syndey) I saw it as a "safe" choice. I'm not sure who was right or wrong, but I mention it to point out that the evolutionof film history is not as simplistic as it seems.