Shinjuku Triad Society


Shinjuku Triad Society is a 1995 Japanese film directed by Takashi Miike. The film is one of the earliest examples of Miike's use of extreme violence and unusual characterization, two aspects he would become notorious for. The film is part of the Black Society trilogy and is followed by Rainy Dog and Ley Lines.

Plot

The film recounts the interactions of the Dragon's Claw triad society and its homosexual leader Wang Zhi-Ming with a renegade police officer named Tatushito as well as opposing yakuza organizations. When Tatsuhito's younger brother Yoshihito becomes the lawyer to the triad society, an argument between the two brothers leads to the downfall of the organization.

Cast

ActorRole
Kippei ShiinaKiriya
Tomorowo TaguchiWang
Takeshi CaesarKarino
Ren OsugiYakuza boss
Sabu
Yukie Itou
Kyosuke Izutsu
Kazuhiro Mashiko
Airi Yanagi

Release

Shinjuku Triad Society was released in Japan on 26 August 1995. Arrow Video released the film on Blu-ray on 24 January 2017.

Reception

Sight & Sound noted the film was similar to the gangster films of Kinji Fukasaku, while noting that "scenes such as the one where sodomy is used as a police interrogation technique bear Miike's unmistakable signature." Time Out London stated that "Even viewers hardened to the perversities which tend to crop up in Japanese exploitation genres may find themselves rubbing their eyes at some of the images and incidents in Miike's extremist thriller" and that "Miike's stylish, gleeful direction establishes him as the most distinctive new 'voice' in the genre since Rokuro Mochizuki."