Agitator

Following a secret meeting of some of the syndicate heads hot-headed Shinozaki of the Shirane group is sent into Yokomizo territory to stir up trouble. The plan seems to be that the Shirane's new allies, the Higane, will intervene on the Yokomizo's behalf and thus provide a pretext to force some concessions.

But while sacrificing Shinozuki is simply a case of good business as far as the Shirane bosses are concerned some of their rank-and-file take his death more personally and respond by assassinating the elderly and seemingly semi-retired head of the Yokomizo, thus escalating things into an all out gang-war…

So far so good. Director Takashi Miike has shown some of his trademark style – a few jump cuts here, a woman having a karaoke microphone forced up her arse there – and nicely established writer Shigenori Takechi's dominant theme – the contrast between the tradition and modernity, given a twist by making it the younger and less established yakuza who are more concerned with the old-fashioned ideals of jin (honour) and gi (humanity) whereas their superiors are the business minded keizai – in his overall mise-en-scene and through the fine performances he's drawing from his cast.

But it's not enough to sustain a two and a half hour epic, all the more so when the lack of a strong point of identification in favour of a kaleidoscopic multiplicity of perspectives – here picking up on an otherwise throwaway shot of one of the gangsters idly looking through the child's toy as he and his cohorts extort protection – and a narrative that contains more twists and turns than a bowl of ramen.

Still, one can at least applaud Miike for his attempt to do something different – different, that is, in terms of his cinema if not the yakuza eiga, with the question of jingi's contemporary relevance already at the centre of Kinji Fukasaku's 1970s Battle Without Honour and Humanity series – in using moments of violent excess to punctuate a more nuanced and character driven piece rather than the other way round.

And even if it doesn't quite work here, it's a shift that bodes well for the future, suggesting that the bad boy of Japanese cinema is rapidly maturing into a director who – contra the fact that he's the one playing Shinozaki and thus the Agitator of the English-language title – realises he doesn't necessarily have to use shock tactics to get his point across.

Visuals on this Region 0 DVD from Tartan is acceptable rather than outstanding, though this appears to be down more to the limitations of the original materials than any particular failing on Tartan's part, with the film being presented anamorphic and in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The main flaws are noticeable grain and some banding in night-time and interior scenes, with stripes of dark and darker grey rather than a deep, uniform black. If it isn't an O(riginal)/V(ideo) production – part of the reason Miike can sustain his high workrate – it certainly looks like one on occasion.

The audio fares better, with an impressive choice of 2.0, 5.1 and 5.1 DTS mixes. The English subtitles are easy to read, although purists may object to the use of mafia-derived terminology – a meeting of the capos rather than the kashira, for instance – as denying the cultural specifity of the yakuza milieux.

Besides the usual Tartan Asia Extreme trailer reel, the extras comprise the Japanese promo pieces for the film and Miike's remake of Fukasaku's Graveyard of Honour and a four page booklet with worthwhile liner notes from Chris Campion, situating the film as part of an experiment on Miike's part whereby he sought to give the same basic genre material different inflections on a succession of films and noting the importance of Norobu Ando, real-life gangster turned film star, as a character model for the films.