While the lack of action is surely meant to reflect the mundane life of the modern Yakuza, the documentary ultimately disappoints.
It seems paradoxical that a documentary that basically goes no where and says very little about its subject could be of any interest at all, but I did watch "Young Yakuza" eagerly for all of its 99 minutes. My attention lagged only when Kumagai would repeat his gripes about today´s Japanese youth and how good Yakuza life used to be. My guess is I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. No revelation ever comes, but I can´t say I find the film a complete failure. Its biggest shortcoming is that it does not go far or deep enough, contenting itself with a few scenes that show the mundane nature of modern Yakuza life.
Video:
Cinema Epoch presents the film with a 16X9 digital transfer. It appears the film what shot on what I´ve heard called "prosumer" cameras. As such, the picture quality is kind of grainy, and the camera mostly handheld, but that look and feel works to the advantage of this type of fly-on-the-wall documentary.
Audio:
The film is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo. Dialogue is always audible, but it´s in Japanese so you´ll be reading the optional white subtitles anyway. There´s no music that isn´t diegetic, and even then it´s only a couple of Japanese youth singing their hip-hop.
Extras:
Not much -- just images of the box art of ten or so titles of a similar nature also available from Cinema Epoch and a series of photographic stills taken from the film.
Bottom line:
"Young Yakuza" takes an intriguing premise for a documentary--a young man´s introduction into the world of the Japanese mob--and does hardly a thing with it. While the lack of action is surely meant to reflect the mundane life of the modern Yakuza, the documentary ultimately disappoints by not providing any context or ulterior information to what is unfolding on the screen. As such, we spend 99 minutes hearing repeat, and not all that revelatory, rants, complaints and every day chatter.
Video:
Cinema Epoch presents the film with a 16X9 digital transfer. It appears the film what shot on what I´ve heard called "prosumer" cameras. As such, the picture quality is kind of grainy, and the camera mostly handheld, but that look and feel works to the advantage of this type of fly-on-the-wall documentary.
Audio:
The film is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo. Dialogue is always audible, but it´s in Japanese so you´ll be reading the optional white subtitles anyway. There´s no music that isn´t diegetic, and even then it´s only a couple of Japanese youth singing their hip-hop.
Extras:
Not much -- just images of the box art of ten or so titles of a similar nature also available from Cinema Epoch and a series of photographic stills taken from the film.
Bottom line:
"Young Yakuza" takes an intriguing premise for a documentary--a young man´s introduction into the world of the Japanese mob--and does hardly a thing with it. While the lack of action is surely meant to reflect the mundane life of the modern Yakuza, the documentary ultimately disappoints by not providing any context or ulterior information to what is unfolding on the screen. As such, we spend 99 minutes hearing repeat, and not all that revelatory, rants, complaints and every day chatter.
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[release]24393[/release]