A look at the life of renegade yakuza, Rikio Ishikawa, particularly the years from 1946 to 1950 when his violent antics get him in trouble with his own clan, Kawada, and then with the clan of his protector, Kozaburo Imai. In these years, he can rely on Chieko, a young Tokyo courtesan who gives him shelter. He's banished to Osaka, where he picks up a drug habit. Through it all, he keeps his friends and enemies off balance with unpredictable behavior - and he seems indestructible.
Kinji Fukasaku's (Battle Royale) Graveyard of Honor is one of the must-see masterpieces of the yakuza cinema, and an ultra-violent journey through Osaka's underworld of misery and power struggles. Fukasaku makes it feel almost like a documentary in how the film is like a chronicle of one disturbed man's life, and how he's sort of like an anti-hero. I love how wild the film-style is, with different filters popping in and out and how in every fight it's like the camera man is scared senseless and stumbles around while trying to shoot the film.
The film had a remake in 2002 by Takashi Miike and while both films are fantastic, the 1975 version has a realness to it which in my opinion is far more effective than having more violence.
Genre: Action/Crime
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