One of Yamanouchi Yukio’s more playful fictions, A Yakuza in Love, comes close to out-and-out comedy before things turn into grim in the dark and doomladen finale. Tazaka (Okuda Eiji with a wonderful body-tattoo on his back) has recovered from his junk habit during a spell in prison. Released at the age of 43, he joins Osaka’s Okuma-gumi as an operations chief – which means that he’s in charge of fights. But the gang is in decline, and its smart young boss envisages a merger with another gang to make a push for control of the Tokyo area. As per the title, Tazaka falls in love when a shy young woman appears in his rifle-sights as he’s about to carry out a hit for his boss. Romance changes him, and he tries to withdraw from the gang. But the gang’s treachery drives him back to heroin…îA Yakuza in Love is less cohesive than Mochizuki’s two previous films from Yamanouchi stories, in part because Morioka Toshiyuki didn’t write this one. Still, the romance angle is fresh and sort-of persuasive, the deployment of the Osaka locations in the mise en scène is typically impressive, and there’s a great score from veteran Osaka rock band Yukadan. Mochizuki dyed his hair blond to make this film, and it shows. (Tony Rayns)
