Violent Streets: Hideo Gosha

Peter Bogdanovich once told Orson Welles that he had watched his film Touch of Evil (1958) four or five times before he "noticed the story." Why? Because he was mesmerized with the film's direction. I had a similar experience with Hideo Gosha's Violent Streets, a film burdened with a tired, generic Yakuza storyline yet blessed with a truly sensational and captivating visual aesthetic that elevates it into greatness. All you need to know about the plot is this: a retired gangster named Egawa is pulled into a war between two rival gangs, the Tokyo Yakuza and the Western Japan Association. The impetus for the war was the kidnapping, blackmailing, and accidental murder of a pop star under the employ of the Tokyo Yakuza. The crimes, which were quickly blamed on the Western Japan Association, were committed by Egawa's men without his knowledge or permission. And so Egawa must head back into the criminal underworld that he had abandoned so long ago. As I mentioned, anyone familiar with the Yakuza genre would immediately recognize these story beats. But Gosha transforms this cookie-cutter story into a mediation on violence worthy of Martin Scorsese and Sam Peckinpah (indeed, several shoot-outs mimic his slow-motion gun-play sequences). Gosha's widescreen compositions are nearly geometric in their obsession with balance and blocking. He frequently squeezes his characters to one corner or side of the frame and fills the negative space with brash colors and multiple fields of movement. Though he doesn't shoot in deep focus, his shots repeatedly reveal prominent objects in the fore-, middle-, and background that give his images extra texture and weight. Even a simple shot of Egawa lying in bed with a lover is amplified by colored lights which flash and modulate in the background. The action set pieces are remarkable, as well. Gosha manages to keep the violence fresh by framing it in bizarre environments: a junkyard strewn with mannequins, a giant chicken coop, the offices of a "talent" agency, the skeleton of a new building complex. Perhaps I have been too harsh in dismissing Violent Streets' plot. After all, to those not accustomed to the genre, its tried-and-true story of honor, responsibility, and violent destiny would seem enthralling. But the true star of the film is Hideo Gosha and his dazzling direction.

8/10