Shinjuku Triad Society (1995)
Some films are gritty and violent, others are outright nasty. I realized afterwards that this came from the director of Ichi The Killer, which made thing fall into place. It shares DNA with something like Murakawa’s Game trilogy, though this doesn’t have the coolness factor or aesthetically pleasing of the gritty aesthetic. It is just filthy, despicable and grotesque. Not just in the visuals, but it reeks through in both plot and characters, who are either rapists or organ harvesters. Hardly any sympathetic characters, but what remains is an unpleasant depiction of a parallel crime underworld and its marginalized people.
Rating: 3