Ladies and gentlemen,

I have finally managed to watch Takashi Miike's Black Society Trilogy which consists of the movies Shinjuku Triad Society (1995), Rainy Dog (1997) and Ley Lines (1999). The trilogy focuses on foreign gangsters who are trying to find a purpose in life. These three Japanese gangster movies show us outcasts that are fighting for acceptance. Each film combines melodramatic and philosophical elements with quite brutal action sequences and deviant eroticism in a very unique way. Takashi Miike breaks with traditional Japanese values and revolutionizes his country's cinema with this stunning trilogy that has finally been released in a boxed set in North America earlier this year. Find my detailed reviews for each movie below and make sure to watch these great movies.

Sincerely yours,

Sebastian Kluth

Shinjuku Triad Society (1995)

Shinjuku Triad Society was Takashi Miike's first movie that wasn't a direct-to-video release but that made it to Japanese movie theatres. It's also the first part of what would later become the Black Society Trilogy that focuses on gangsters living in foreign countries. This film is also a movie that establishes many trademarks that can be found in numerous Takashi Miike movies until today such as having controversial anti-heroes as protagonists, focusing on a slightly depressing, melancholic and at times surreal atmosphere and including a lot of cold-hearted violence including several anal rape scenes between both homosexual and heterosexual partners, an eyeball being ripped out of an old woman's face and a police officer that nearly gets beaten to death in this particular case. This movie shows the ugly sides of life and how each and every single human being has some serious flaws. Takashi Miike's movie aren't for the faint-hearted but that what makes them so unique after all.

It has also become a trademark that many of Takashi Miike's movies feature numerous characters and are at times difficult to follow. This is also the case here and it might take about half an hour to figure out who is who and on whose side. You patience will be rewarded with a movie that is equally entertaining and profound.

The movie shows how a Chinese-born Japanese police officer who isn't fully accepted by either society tries to take care of his old parents who have failed to integrate into Japanese society, protect his younger brother who gets involved as a lawyer for a local triad group and hunt down a homosexual Taiwanese-born gangster boss who is specialized in organ trafficking. The movie shows us flawed but very profound characters who are trying to find a way to be accepted and have a decent life but struggle to succeed in one way or another. This film is a brutal action movie and a suspenseful gangster thriller but also a thought-provoking drama. Despite the depressing settings and the desperate main plot, Takashi Miike also includes a few moments that lighten things up such as his absurd and black humour but also some short moments of compassion between the main character and his parents, a prostitute and his brother. 

Shinjuku Triad Society is a charismatic masterpiece in Takshi Miike's early career that already shows how unconventional and unique his approach to film-making was back then. This movie's brutal, direct and gloomy attitude breaks several taboos in traditional Japan and that's why this film has developed a cult following among younger audiences over the years. If you like twisted dramas, gangster movies and neo-noir cinema, you should not only watch this outstanding movie but the entire Black Society Trilogy that has recently been released in North America with a detailed booklet, analytical commentary and exclusive recent interviews.

9/10

Rainy Dog (1997)

Rainy Dog is the second film in Takashi Miike's Black Society Trilogy that focuses on foreign gangsters with inner struggles that are trying to find a purpose in life. Despite a similar topic, Rainy Dog is very different from the first film Shinjuku Triad Society.

The first movie focused on Chinese-born Japanese gangsters and police officers that were fighting each other in Tokyo's flashy suburb. This movie here focuses on a Japanese gangster who had to leave the country and settle in Taiwan after committing a crime.

While the first movie focuses on a more complex plot, includes numerous characters and relies on quite brutal action sequences, this second film is almost an antithesis of the predecessor. Rainy Dog focuses on the solitary main character who works as a hit-man for a local gangster boss after his Japanese boss got killed in his absence. He ultimately tries to run away from his depressing everyday life. The solitary main character is followed by a mute boy that was dropped at his desolate dwelling by a woman the main character had sexual intercourse with many years ago but whose name he doesn't even remember and who claims that he is his son. This unusual duo teams up with a prostitute that wants to start a new life. The trio gets tracked down by three parties: another Japanese hit-man who was asked to avenge the crime that forced the main character to leave his home country, the friends and family members of a guy the main character executed in Taiwan and even the Taiwanese gangster boss the main character was working for in the beginning of the movie that decided to betray him.

Rainy Dog is a quite revealing title because the main character and those who follow him behave, feel and run way like beaten dogs. In addition to this, it's almost constantly raining throughout the entire movie which adds to the desperate, melancholic and monotonous tone of the movie. Most scenes are set on abandoned beaches, in dark back alleys, in muddy forests and in small impersonal dwellings. This lethargic atmosphere is a little bit harder to digest than the vivid predecessor but it gives the film a very own style. The minimalist acting, the short dialogues and the desolate landscapes only add to this unique approach. The acting performances might be restricted at first sight but that was clearly the director's intention and it's actually quite interesting how the emotionless main character very slowly opens up to not only accepting but even feeling sympathy for the boy that might be his son and the prostitute that is his soulmate.

The gloomy atmosphere from start to finish leads to a very fitting ending that you wouldn't get in a Hollywood movie and that even some of the actors involved disliked as you can hear and see in the additional interview included on this disc of the Black Society Trilogy package that has been released earlier this year. Personally, I really liked this movie's conclusion. 

In my opinion, Rainy Dog convinces with its profound atmosphere and three main characters that are as flawed as they are fascinating. The downside of the movie is its plot that is average at best and the mostly static action sequences that fail to add some much-needed punch to the lethargic movie. Fans of original Yakuza flicks and director Takashi Miike should give this film a try. Occasional fans of gangster movies can skip the second part of the Black Society Trilogy.

7/10

Ley Lines (1999)

Ley Lines is the third and last instalment in Takashi Miike's Black Society Trilogy that focuses on foreign gangsters with inner struggles trying to find a purpose in life. Ley Lines both shares similarities and differences with Shinjuku Triad Society and Rainy Dog. Despite overall positive critics, I think this movie is the weakest part of the trilogy even though it's still slightly above average.

Just as the first film, Ley Lines focuses on Chinese-born Japanese that have to face a lot of prejudice and racism which is made clear right from the start in a beautiful and surreal opening sequence. Just like in the second movie, the main characters team up with a prostitute that is also looking for a purpose in life. The main characters clash with local gangsters that also have a foreign background which is also typical for the trilogy.

On the other side, Ley Lines focuses on three characters instead of a lone wolf. It tells the story of two brothers and their school friend who leave the countryside on a train and hope to become rich, famous and accepted in Tokyo. Upon arriving, they get tricked and robbed by a prostitute but she gets beaten up by her pimp and crosses the path with the trio again and decides to accompany and help them this time. The trio first sells petroleum-based inhalant toulene for a weird local low-level criminal. When they realize that they are still living like outcasts, they plan on moving illegally to Brazil on a cargo ship. In order to finance such a resettlement, they rob a local gangster clan that chases them down until the final showdown at the port.

Ley Lines has a few brutal and explicit scenes like the other two movies, for example when the prostitute gets beaten up by her pimp and when she has to serve two weird clients which are events that convince her to change her profession, life and identity. On the other side, the film has some situation comedy as well. The brothers' friend is weird, overenthusiastic and eccentric which adds a lot of humour and pace to the film but also feels somewhat exaggerated and redundant at times. The prostitute is also quite quirky and has sexual intercourse with all members of the trio to cheer them up which is portrayed in a surprisingly neutral way as this doesn't provoke any conflicts between the four characters.

The film is overall less brutal and intense than the first movie and less melancholic and solitary than the second instalment. It's somewhere in between those two films and feels directionless at times when weird situation comedy and uplifting moments are followed by rather depressing or boring sequences. Despite a few solid ideas like showing the constant shift of ups and downs in the lives of the three outsiders, Ley Lines is somehow missing its own distinctive identity and has a few minor lengths. 

In conclusion, Ley Lines is still a slightly above average movie and if you have watched Shinjuku Triad Society and Rainy Dog, you won't regret watching this third and last part of the Black Society Trilogy either. If you haven't watched the other two films, there are numerous other Japanese gangster movies of much better quality you should watch first. Let me suggest you Another Lonely Hit-man, Gozu and Outrage.

6/10

Ladies and gentlemen,

After some delay, here are the pictures of the final day of my short Easter road trip. The weather wasn't what I had been hoping for but at least it didn't rain much last Monday. My next trip out of region will take place in about one month from here. Stay tuned.

The Spirit Catcher on the shore of Kempenfelt Bay in Barrie, Ontario.

A view of downtown Huntsville, Ontario and its marina.

Huntsville Civic Centre on Main Street in Huntsville, Ontario.

A look of Fairy Lake as taken from Lions Lookout in Huntsville, Ontario.

A look of downtown Huntsville, Ontario and its shallows.

Muskoka Heritage Place in Huntsville, Ontario.

Hardwood Lookout Trail with a view of Smoke Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario.

A lookout with a view of Fork Lake on the left and Norway Lake on the right in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario.

Entrance of the Algonquin Park Visitor Centre in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario.

A female moose somewhere between Whitney and Madawaska in Ontario.

Old train station in Barry's Bay, Ontario.

Zurakowski Park in honour of a former test pilot in Barry's Bay, Ontario.

Polish Kashub Heritage Museum and Skansen in Wilno, Ontario.

Look of Bonnechere River in Eganville, Ontario.

Eganville Centennial Park in Eganville, Ontario.

War memorial in front on Renfrew's Town Hall, Public Library and Baptist Church in Renfrew, Ontario.

Archway to Ottawa's Chinatown in Ottawa, Ontario.

A band called Havok, an album cover with an illuminated skull and a Pantera cover song are strong indicators that this quartet is another aggressive nu thrash metal band. This approach can only work if the band either finds its own niche musically or is rightfully mad and delivers clear political statements that would rather come from a punk band. However, the band fails on both levels and this is what makes Conformicide particularly difficult to sit through.

The opening song is always a strong indicator for the rest of the album, so let's listen to it. ''F.P.C.'' stand for ''Fuck Political Correctness''. I don't know why the band didn't write this out but maybe they weren't even convinced of their own vapid message. Let's talk about the music instead. Occasional groove and thrash metal riffs meet funky slap bass sounds, up-tempo pop punk drumming with unnecessary blast beats thrown into the mixture and annoying vocals somewhere between hoarse shouts and weird spoken word experiments. Some people might say that this mixtures seems to be quite experimental but it's a perfect example of a failed experiment where too many ideas lead to a confusing potpourri. This song sounds like a revamped version of Exodus' and Megadeth's worst moments increased by ten with a shot of Blink-182 and Pantera. If that sounds bad to you, expect something even worse. Musically, this might however even be the best song on the album.

The other tracks aren't as experimental and all over the place as the opening disaster but stick continuously to the same tired Exodus-meets-Pantera-in-a-negative-way approach. The mixture of clinical production, one-dimensional song structures and whiny lyrics make for a quite soulless record despite its intention to spread moving messages. This band is as conform to exchangeable modern thrash metal as a case of Coors Light to a convenience store.

Let's talk about the lyrics then. What is the band so mad about? Poverty in developing countries? Increasing homophobia and racism in their home country? The rise of terrorism in our world? The negative effects of climate change? The presidency of Donald Trump? No, the band decides to criticize successful businessmen, politically correct conformists, religious haze and the usual topics that have been treated a billion times before and fail to deliver a record on the pulse of time. Terms like death, disease, famine, genocide,radioactivity, slavery and war are used so randomly in the horrid ''Masterplan'' that it's almost disrespectfully shallow. Instead of addressing one concrete problem, the band talks about everything and nothing at the same time. Their lyrics against the system, no matter what aspect of it, remind me of the biased opinions of a pseudo-rebellious teenage punk band that plays improvised concerts in trailer parks before the members are going home to their parents’ basements to study for their Latin exam. The lyrics come off as biased, naive and superficial. No, I wasn't expecting lyrics about rose unicorns in wonderland but the fact that the band transmits exactly one single emotion and topic which is negativity gets quite tiring after a while.

In the end, Havok have tried to grab metal by the pussy but have ended up falling flat on their arses. This record might sound good to you if you are fourteen years old, have never listened to thrash metal before and feel like being at war with society. For anyone else, just avoid this record altogether. The lyrics are embarrassing and almost laughable. The music rips off the usual genre suspects in a negative way without adding anything new to it. The production only increases potential headaches. I give that shiny new coaster ten percent because at least the band tried focusing on a concrete guiding line even if it didn't work out in my book. After all, Audiocide would have been a more appropriate title for that frisbee than Conformicide.

Final rating: 10%

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today was a crazy day. The weather was particularly bad and I was almost running out of fuel but I still managed to visit a few new spots and take some gorgeous pictures. Tomorrow will be the last day of my short road trip and the weather is supposed to be much better. Let's wait and see.

Wanapitei River on the border of Sudbury and Wahnapitae, Ontario.

Neilly Lake on the left and Sawmill Lake on the right in Burnwash, Ontario.

Killarney Marina, looking east through Killarney Channel towards Killarney Mountain Lodge and Georgian Bay, Ontario.

Killarney Marina, looking wets through Killarney Channel towards Killarney Harbour and Georgian Bay, Ontario.

Saint Bonaventure's Church in Killarney, Ontario.

Recollet Falls on the French River in Killarney, Ontario.

French River in Killarney, Ontario.

William E. Small Suspension Bridge for squads, snowmobiles and pedestrians across the French River in Killarney, Ontario.

The French River, looking east where one can see a highway and a railroad bridge in Killarney, Ontario.

The French River, looking west towards Georgian Bay in Killarney, Ontario.

French River Visitor Centre in Killarney, Ontario. Beware of thornbushes, rattlesnakes and mosquitoes.

Heritage Park in downtown Barrie, Ontario.

Barrie Marina and Lake Simcoe in Barrie, Ontario.

Barrie Marina with Spirit Catcher sculpture in Kempenfelt Bay, Barrie, Ontario.

Ladies and gentlemen,

You can really rely on Canadian weather forecasts. They had announced that the sun would be shining until noon and that the weather would get much nastier in the afternoon. This proved to be absolutely accurate. It started raining a few minutes past noon after a wonderful morning and the bad weather didn't stop until late at night. The weather wasn't what I had been hoping for but I was at least able to visit a couple of new spots.

Look of the Ottawa River at Petawawa Point, Ontario.

Rapides-des-Joachims Bridge between Ontario and Quebec as photographed from Laurentian Hills, Ontario.

Old ferry trail in Deux-Rivières, Ontario.

War memorial in Mattawa, Ontario.

Where the Mattawa River meets the Ottawa River in Mattawa, Ontario.

Explorer's Point Park in Mattawa, Ontario.

Champlain Tent Trailer and RV Park on the shores of Lavase River and Lake Nipissing in North Bay, Ontario.

Trinity United Church in downtown North Bay, Ontario.

Waterfront Marina in North Bay, Ontario.

War Memorial and Sturgeon Falls in West Nipissing, Ontario.

Memorial Park in Sudbury, Ontario.

Sudbury Water Tower in Sudbury, Ontario.

Big Nickel at the grounds of the Dynamic Earth science museum in Sudbury, Ontario.