Ley Lines (Nihon kuroshakai, 1999)
Miike Takashi
Japan
105 min, color, Japanese and Mandarin, English subtitles
Review © 2004 Branislav L. Slantchev
The third, and last, installment in the Black Society Trilogy (following Shinjuku Triad Society and Rainy Dog), Ley Lines completes the progression from the first two films. While the films are not narratively connected and do not have the same protagonists, they are nevertheless thematically related, not just because they deal with outcasts among outcasts, but because they generally provide a startling (and, naturally for Miike, exaggerated) look at humanity at its best when the circumstances are at their worst.
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| Shunned as children | Sordid sex |
There are really no heroes in these films, just people, especially ones who have been so severely brutalized and disillusioned by life that it is a miracle they have retained capacity to feel anything warm toward others. As such, all three films affirm our nature without either sanitizing its rather unsavory aspects, or else glamorizing it into a fabricated memorial to impossible greatness. The main difference in this film compared to the previous two is that the protagonists start out basically quite likeable, and whatever challenges they come across they mostly handle well. The conclusion is even more jarring than Rainy Dog's, perhaps because we are not nearly as conflicted about what these guys "should" get in the end.
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| The trio gets suckered | Shunrei and Chan down and out in Shinjuku |
Ryuichi (Kitamura Kazuki) and Shunrei (Kashiwaya Michisuke) are brothers who, along with their faithful friend Chan (Taguchi Tomorowo), are of Chinese descent. They are shunned by the "real" Japanese, and even though they have apparently repeatedly attempted to gain acceptance and social recognition, they have failed. The film opens with Ryuichi unsuccessfully trying to get a passport, which is denied because of criminal (unexplained) behavior. The three guys resolve to get to the big city and somehow procure passports illegally. If nothing else, they are determined to leave Japan, and their destination is nearly irrelevant: Anywhere but here. When they choose Brazil, they may as well have chosen Tanzania.
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| Ain't no science stuff | Anita after a particularly kinky client |
They sell drugs on the street and get involved with a Chinese prostitute. Her name is Anita (Li Dan) and she used to be a school teacher in Shanghai before ending up in Shinjuku, where she peddles cheap and nasty sex, and occasionally gets tortured by S&M clients when she is not manhandled by her pimp. Miike's depictions of women are usually so extravagant that one is left with a sense of bewilderment: does the director really see them this way or is this just another provocation?
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| Wong's regression to childhood (trauma) | We gotta get out of this place |
By all accounts, Anita is pretty tame actually if we don't count her promiscuity (off the job, that is). When Shunrei helps her after a particularly severe beating and despite the fact that she had earlier stolen all their money, she thanks him by practically raping him. (Not that he objected.) The dreary scene is "enhanced" by her constant refrain "Stupid men." Well, men are stupid, that's a scientific fact. But why encourage them? In a hilarious scene soon afterwards, she is extolled to fellate the nearly unconscious Ryuichi by his faithful friend Chan, who believes that sex is the best cure for bleeding head wounds. (It is, actually.) Pretty soon, Chan is getting it on with her for free. (She's the charitable one, and apparently impressed by his selflessness.)
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| Shunrei and Ryuichi | Gratuitous shot of Li Dan |
If these proceedings were not bizarre enough, the trio runs into Wong (Takenaka Naoto), another immigrant who has mastered Japanese to such an extent that his accent is nearly unnoticeable. This has allowed him to integrate into the underworld. What a life story! It is sad when the best these people can aspire to is below the radar of normal people. Wong is not without psychological hiccups (to put it mildly) of his own. In particular, he likes listening to Chinese stories while lying in a subterranean room lined with candles. Woe to the poor woman who is not from the appropriate province or town!
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| Scooter gangs simply not that scary | Death scene of Shakespearean duration |
Needless to say, his appetite for stories from Shanghai virtually ensures that Anita will end up in his paws, which she does although he does not paw her. The question then becomes a simple choice between securing the passports with honest dirty labor or getting enough cash to emigrate illegally. Not surprisingly, whatever they do will put them on collision course with destiny.
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| Back to the village | Literal and figurative sunset |
There are several very nice touches in the film, both story-wise and visual. For example, the brothers share an inexplicable bond whereby when one is in trouble, the other one knows it and can always locate his brother wherever he is. As for the visuals, well, the color coding scheme is impressive. Many scenes are bathed in red, giving them an other-worldly look with concealed menace tinged with romanticism. Most of the film is quite dark, and I walked away with a subdued feeling that was not entirely due to the story.
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| Nowhere to go? | You will never be as cool as me... |
Acting-wise, everyone delivers (with the possible exception of Aikawa Sho but his role was peripheral). I was particularly fond of Li Dan, whose tight legs and weathered looks combined nicely to convey the life of a tough hooker. The lead Kitamura was a bit wooden, but then he was supposed to be the inscrutable one. As usual, Taguchi was delirious. An appropriate ending to a memorable trilogy, this film is quite recommended.
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| ... or will we? | Boat on the waters of Styx |
The Artsmagic DVD is excellent. Available separately and as part of the special edition Black Society Trilogy, it offers an anamorphic widescreen transfer (as good as it will ever get, even if it is a bit dark for my taste), superb English optional subtitles, and a cornucopia of extras: a feature-length commentary by the Tom Mes, trailers, filmographies of the cast, along with special interviews with Miike (where he mostly rambles about various things related to the film) and his editor. Recommended.
September 10, 2004