Pardon me if I don’t get too excited about another film where a group of restless young people decide that since they have no idea what to do with their lives that ripping off the local crime boss is some sort of career path. The details and locations of these movies may change, but you can pretty much guess how the film progresses right down to the ending where the heist goes horribly awry, resulting in death and destruction.
If you’re a junkie for these types of movies where some kids try to break into organized crime as they attempt to find some meaning in a world where they aren’t wanted, then this one will no doubt satisfy you, but if you think that you’re going to find anything new just because it’s Takashi Miike’s third and final film in his The Black Society Trilogy, then you’ll be sorely disappointed. In fact, a quick examination of those films reveals that Miike already managed to mine many crime movie cliches, with varying degrees of success.
The first movie, the entertaining Shinjuku Triad Society, featured a cop who was virtually indistinguishable from the violent dirtbags he was after. Rainy Dog had us following a hitman around as he slowly (very slowly) came to terms with the idea that he had a child which somehow served to humanize his existence. With the third movie, we watch as these kids get sucked into the lifestyle in contrast to the first two where everyone had been consumed by it already.
The three young guys featured in the film conform to the different variety of punks you would expect in a movie of this sort. Their unofficial leader is bound and determined to escape wherever he currently is. First he wants to get to Tokyo, then once there he decides that he has to leave Japan altogether.
His brother is the sensitive one of the trio and thus has the best hair and quietest attitude of them. He sort of goes along to get along.
The third guy is the not-too bright lunkhead who is the loose cannon. He practically wears a shirt the entire movie with “I’m getting my guts shot out first!” emblazoned across the front. We aren’t terribly surprised then, when toward the end of the movie, he’s holding his bloody chest and moaning that he wants some ice cream.
Oh, and they meet their hooker girlfriend after she pickpockets two of them. She has -wait for it- an abusive pimp she wants to run away from!
Miike manages to continue his single most interesting theme of the trilogy in this movie, that of the outcast in a world of outcasts. With Ley Lines, the movie opens up with the two brothers being taunted as kids by some Japanese twerps because they are Chinese. It’s probably no secret then why the one brother is desperate to leave.
His problem though is that he can’t get a passport because he’s on probation. The only solution then is to unofficially leave the country and that means lots of money and contact with organized crime. After most of his buddies fink out on him at the train station, he, his brother, and the crazy kid head to Tokyo where they hope to find something to do with their lives.
Things look bleak for our three amigos and it seems as if the big city is going to have its way with them right from the get go. But that’s when a chance encounter with a guy in a restroom leads them into the exciting world of toluene dealing!
Those of you with fulfilling lives have no doubt never had the need to get into the whole toluene scene, so a little education may be in order. Toluene is a chemical that you inhale to induce symptoms of giddiness. I don’t think there’s a big market for guys on the street selling toluene in the United States because you can just go down to the hardware store and purchase spray paint or model airplane glue and get the same effect. It’s called freedom, baby!
The sensitive brother finds the hooker wandering zombie-like through the street after being abused by a guy as well as beaten by her pimp. He and her hook up and become fast friends and once the crazy guy comes home with the other brother who was beaten himself, they all become real friendly.
She ends up humping all three at some time or other, including one while he was unconscious, but she announces that she’s no longer a hooker and that she refuses to sell her body anymore! Luckily for our crew, she’s still more than happy to just give it away. Do you ever get the idea that these movies just wander around aimlessly during the middle, marking time until the big heist and gun fight at the end?
This isn’t a bad movie and doesn’t suffer from the excruciating pace of Rainy Dog, but there just doesn’t seem to be much going on to elevate it from similarly-themed films. You never really feel any connection to any of the characters since they say and do very little beyond selling their toluene, hanging out with hookers or whining about leaving Japan.
The most intriguing aspect of the movie, the effect that the prejudice against outsiders had on these three Chinese people isn’t dealt with beyond the whole “I want out of Japan” angle.
The genuinely interesting scenes relating to this such as the crime boss who has made himself a success in Japan, but still yearns to hear fairy tales of his native Shanghai, are unfortunately few and far between as Miike gets hung up on delivering a standard crime drama. Marginally better than the dull Rainy Dog, but not as inventive, engaging or important as some would have you believe.
© 2010 MonsterHunter
