Fantastic Fest 2010: Outrage
Long is the time that fans of Beat Takeshi have demanded that he return to the Yakuza genre. It was the genre from which many of us discovered him, and it would seem it would be the only genre that matters to fans of his cinematic canon. His time of self exploration is over and his latest film Outrage marks his return to the Yakuza genre and it is every bit as visceral, shocking and violent as his earlier efforts. Yet he has made subtle changes to the direction and execution of Outrage that make it stand distinct from the rest.
As is the course for a Kitano film he has written and directed Outrage and Takeshi Kitano also takes one of the leads. He is Otomo, a low level member of a very large Yakuza clan. What should be obvious to fans is that Kitano has written a screenplay with a whole lot more dialogue in it than any of his previous Yakuza films. Because the story of his film is the double dealings and back stabbings going on inside a Yakuza clan events will have to be spelled out as things can get very confusing very quickly.
His film watches as orders are given out from the chairman about one family in particular and a pact their leader made with a rival gang boss in prison. But we soon see that many of his lieutenants and under-bosses have many ideas of their own on how some businesses operate and this further complicates things for everyone involved and the downward spiral starts. It can be more than a little daunting to try to keep up with all the nefarious dealings within this massive organization. I would like to think it was intentional on Kitano's behalf to not make it easy to follow to show just how easy it is to lose control, and potentially your life, inside a Yakuza clan. The largest clan in Japan has roughly 20,000 members spread across numerous gangs.
Other than that Outrage is as good as any of his previous Yakuza films. Kitano's gift has always been to punctuate the quietness of his gangster films with shocking and disturbing violence. This is not action, this is raw unflinching violence. Kitano also writes small moments of humor into his script to provide moments to breathe or to masterfully disarm his audience- and then proceed to chop off a finger. It marks a return to the genre with a slight difference in form. But it is signature Kitano nonetheless.
So attention! The Chairman of Yakuza films has returned and he has taken his rightful seat as the head of this film clan!
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