Another Lonely Hitman (2005)

Synopsis: Mochizuki Rokuro cut his directorial teeth on Japanese porn films, before turning his attention almost exclusively to the Yakuza genre; to this he brings, with ANOTHER LONELY HITMAN, a deft touch of surprising subtlety and infinitely compelling characterizations. In this gritty tale of... Mochizuki Rokuro cut his directorial teeth on Japanese porn films, before turning his attention almost exclusively to the Yakuza genre; to this he brings, with ANOTHER LONELY HITMAN, a deft touch of surprising subtlety and infinitely compelling characterizations. In this gritty tale of an old-fashioned hitman's crusade to maintain the traditional Yakuza values of old, the titular character is played with a nuanced complexity by Ryo Ishibashi in his breakout role. As a young Yakuza, Tachibana Takashi pulled off an important hit on his very first time out, killing the boss of the rival Hokushin gang. He committed an error, however, due to the fact that he was on heroin, and was subsequently convicted and imprisoned for 10 years. Upon his release, he is welcomed back into the arms of the Hirakawa family, but things have changed a great deal in the intervening period, and not to Tachibana's liking. The rival gangs now settle their differences through the exchange of money, and make their living in such undistinguished professions as pornography, extortion, and drug dealing. When Tachibana defends an abused prostitute against her pimp, he inadvertently reawakens the old familial feud, and he must fight the bosses on both sides to purge the underground of its new business methods, reinstating the old codes of gangster life. Through a veneer of ultraviolence that warrants comparison to acclaimed director Takashi Miike, a multifaceted portrayal of the complexities of morality emerges in the well-drawn character of Tachibana. He is at once brutally cruel and sensitive, an essentially ethical creature in search of salvation, the harsh realities of which are offset by the conscious lack of artistry in the film's construction, with the lack of beautification a parallel to the moral decay with which Tachibana is surrounded. [More]