Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973) – K. Fukasaku

One of the key Yakuza films that sought to shatter the myth of chivalrous behaviour amongst gangsters that had heretofore been portrayed in film and to replace it with its opposite: betrayal, paranoia, greed, and, yes, a lack of honor and humanity.  This was the first big hit for director Kinji Fukasaku (later famous in his old age for Battle Royale) and star Bunta Sugawara and it spawned four sequels.  Not surprisingly, the film is extremely bloody and brutal, as we follow the Yamamori family’s birth, rise, and eventual splintering.  Nothing is glamourized: from the early days of the post-WWII black market to the later days of entrepreneurial business ventures jointly operated with politicians, central characters are just as likely to get rubbed out by a backstabbing surprise attack.  Although, at first, I thought I might get lost trying to identify the myriad sub-bosses, eventually I was able to grasp the various players and the Shakespearian machinations of the plot (thanks also to the subtitled announcements of each character’s death, accompanied by a fanfare of trumpets). Gritty, violent, not for all tastes, but a touchstone in this genre.     

La Femme Infidele (1969)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

La Femme Infidele (1969) – C. Chabrol

Of course, Rohmer and Chabrol wrote a classic book about Hitchcock, so it should come as no surprise that this thriller by the latter contains an extended homage to Psycho.  Chabrol has also adopted the Master’s wicked wit and, more than once, the audience is teased and tormented because they have been led to identify with a guilty party.  Indeed, who wouldn’t identify with Michel Bouquet, the possibly cuckolded husband who hires a private detective to discover whether his wife, Stephane Audran, is cheating on him.  As with Hitch, the little moments matter, as each unfolding situation involves tensions and dynamics beneath the surface action that only those privy to each character’s secret knowledge can fully comprehend – and in this case, both husband and wife have secrets.  Their marriage may be strained but when they become complicit in each other’s secrets, perhaps this bolsters it?  Not a particularly deep movie, but a wicked, witty, absorbing thriller for those who like the screws tightened.