Review of Graveyard Of Honour

Introduction

Having recently seen legendary Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku`s Cops vs Thugs, here is another one of his blood-stained offerings, this time focusing on a wayward gangster and his determination to reach the top of the ladder - killing and maiming along the way.

Rikio Ishikawa is a brutal street thug who is drawn into the powerful Kawada gang in 1946 Tokyo. His insubordination and rebelliousness encourage him to start his own Yakuza family, but he decides the easiest way would be to challenge his own Godfather, whom he brutally attacks. This disrespect to his boss brings the ultimate form of disgrace upon himself and his `family`.

For his own safety, he surrenders to the police and spends more than a year in jail. But Ishikawa`s dishonourable actions have set him against the entire Yakuza world, as any Yakuza gangster would win favour by killing him. Barred from joining any Tokyo gang for ten years, he flees to Osaka, where he plans his return to Tokyo only a year later so that he can begin his violent and drug-fuelled rise to power.

Video

1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. The visuals are fairly well defined, and although the palette is used satisfactorily, the odd compression sign and quite regular occurence of dust and grain mark this down. I have to say though that this is better than fellow Eureka Video release Cops vs Thugs - slightly strange as both films were made around the same time.

Fukasaku is renowned for his no-nonsense approach to violence: the more brutal it is, the more provocative it is for the audience. Again, he deploys this style, mixing storytelling with clips of various bloodshed and scenes of rape. It is a somewhat tought mix to swallow, but fans of the genre or horror veterans will be used to it. Still, slightly unnerving.

Audio

Dolby Digital Mono (Japanese). Playing through the front channel, this is pretty lacklustre during any scenes of action or music. Although the dialogue is crisp and clear, a surround soundtrack would have enhanced the viewing experience quite considerably.

The script is basically a man-against-the-world story with dark themes and vengeance and brutality splattered all over it. However, although the plot may seemed action packed, the script is not - it is slow burning, and although the odd action set piece does crop up, this is fairly tedious at times.

The English subtitles are clear and well timed.

Features

All that is on offer is a profile of the director (static pages of course) and about a dozen stills from the film. The former is interesting, but the second is very basic. Where is the commentary track and making-of feature? Obviously on a well put together disc...

The menus are static with music playing in the background. They are easy to navigate.

Conclusion

There is no denying that Fukasaku is a talented bloke - his camerawork and directing is good, and his method of storytelling is original, usually coming in the form of freezeframes with captions and also black and white footage. It makes for an interesting visual experience, but in the case of Graveyard of Honour, his skills can`t save the film from being average at best.

The acting seems somewhat two-dimensional, with little development or emotion. Also, due to a weak premise and poor execution (MO of the film: blood, vengeance, blood, vengeance and so it goes), the flaws are too great for this to be considered a good film.

Graveyard of Honour may `say it like it is` in respect to Japanese moral codes, the film doesn`t touch on what could be a very interesting character study.

Instead, we are left with a bloody and sullied film, something that may please certain claret fans, will no doubt leave others thinking how unaccessible it is. If you are thinking of venturing into Fukasaku, I advise you to avoid this until you have built up an understanding of his work - perhaps then it will sit better.

The disc is very average - the presentation varies between OK and quite good, yet the almost non-existent extras do nothing to help.

Fans of Japanese cinema and fans of Kinji Fukasaku (is that tautology?) may enjoy this, but for 21st century audiences who are not familiar with Eastern cinema, they will be left unsatisfied. And unfortunately, the same can be said of the DVD.