Pale Flower (1964)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Pale Flower (1964) – M. Shinoda

Muraki has just been let out of prison for a gangland killing but finds that his boss now has a truce with the enemy gang.  He shrugs it off, as his interest it taken up by a mysterious lady gambler who is bored enough by life to try anything. Muraki tags along, sort of drifting through the underworld. Masahiro Shinoda creates a stylish “new wave” environs for this tired hard-boiled yakuza to haunt, all moody high contrast B&W.  The gambling dens where they play hanafuda (a sort of Japanese blackjack with wooden cards) are just parts of the void where time and money disappear. In the end, to an English-language opera by Purcell, Muraki carries out one last job, to show his lady gambler true nihilism. This film created the mould that later Yakuza films would seek to fill.