2 manly men, 1 geisha, lots of brooding and a bloody finish

Asia Society kicked off their yakuza film series, Gamblers, Gangsters and other Anti-heroes, with Tomu Uchida's 1968 version of Koyo Ozaki's oft filmed novel Jinsei Gekijo or Theatre of Life. The complete title of this version is Jinsei Gekijo: Hishakaku to Kiratsune - those are the names of the two protagonists at the end, thus the English translated title of A Tale of Two Yakuza. Series curator Ian Buruma gave an informative introduction, explaining how this was an example of the classical ninkyo yakuza films that were popular in the 60's. He mentioned discovering these films while living in Japan in the 70's and sometimes attending all night yakuza movie marathons. He also related how even the sanctuary seeking audience members who had dozed off would awake at every predictable climactic finale to urge on stars like Ken Takakura. One interesting word of encouragement he said was 'shine' (pronounced 'she nay') or 'die.' These cries weren't fueled by pure blood lust, but since the hero's death was inevitable they wanted him to die beautifully, as Mr. Buruma explained.

The movie is well constructed with meticulous plotting and structural devices, though a little bogged down dramatically. The majority of time is spent on a deliberately paced love triangle. Thankfully there's a stylish explosion of violent action at the end. This is metaphoric and cathartic for the emotional turmoil brought upon the characters by the giri ninjo dilema. Uchida frames interestingly enough on this sound stage production, adding a dash of theatrical and emotional vibrancy while remaining comfortably inside the formula. He also brings out strong performances from the all star cast, which included yakuza film icons Ken Takakura and Koji Tsuruta in the leads. Junko Fuji, who would go on to her own yakuza star turn in the Red Peony series, plays the geisha of their affections.