Beat Happenings No. 7: Beyond Outrage
‘Who says I’m still a yakuza’
Hi, I’m Bryan and this is my newsletter, Beat Happenings. Each installment focuses on Japanese comedian, TV host, actor, and filmmaker Takeshi Kitano, a.k.a. Beat Takeshi, and one of his yakuza films. This week, the second entry in Kitano’s Outrage trilogy, Beyond Outrage.
Beat Takeshi and Hideo Nakano in Beyond Outrage (2012)
Considering that it came after a decade away from the genre, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Outrage was meant to be Takeshi Kitano’s goodbye to the yakuza film. Instead, the movie seemed to spark something in its creator, and two sequels would follow before the decade was over. The first of these films, 2012’s Beyond Outrage, showed that while Kitano wasn’t above repeating himself, he also hoped to refine his message a little bit.
When the movie opens, five years have passed and Kato (played Tomokazu Miura), the former underboss who surreptitiously killed Mr. Chairman at the end of the first film, is still in charge of the Sanno-kai. And the Tokyo-based crime syndicate’s ambitions have changed dramatically during this time. With the help of his much-younger no. 2, Ishimoto (Ryo Kase), who betrayed Kitano’s Otomo at the end of Outrage, the Sanno-kai have their eye on something bigger than underworld domination. They want to control Japan’s entire political system.
But not everyone is thrilled with this plan. Another crime family, the older and more traditional Hanabishi-kai, is concerned about Kato and Ishimoto’s attempt to disrupt the way the yakuza operate. Meanwhile, the police—“They are no different than the yakuza”—want to stop the Sanno-kai from gaining more influence than they already have. So, the sly Detective Kataoka (Fumiyo Kohinata) pulls some strings and has Otomo released from prison early. This is a surprise, though, as everyone, including anyone who watched the end of Outrage, thinks that Otomo is dead. But it turns that was just a rumor started by the duplicitous Kataoka, who had a feeling Kitano’s thirst for revenge might come in handy one day. His plan: Let Otomo and another aggrieved former gangster, Kimura (Hideo Nakano), take care of the Kato problem for him and the Hanabishi-kai.
That may sound like a lot of plot, but it only covers the first 20 minutes of the movie. Beyond Outrage is all about the labyrinthine inner workings of the yakuza. While the movie is still filled with vicious physical violence—a scene where Otomo wields a power drill and another at the batting cages are particularly hard to shake—the majority of its scenes involve old men screaming at each other over tea in dimly-lit boardrooms. Everyone who has survived the bloodshed up until now knows that no one is to be trusted, especially those you partner up with. This shift in focus feels like an attempt by Kitano to shake things up but also to illustrate that violence isn’t the only form of brutality in the world of the yakuza.
Of course, there is one character this doesn’t apply to and that’s Otomo. Although he’s lost everything, his internal code of honor remains as strong as ever. In fact, now that he’s no longer a yakuza, the doubt that so frequently accompanied his actions has disappeared. And this newfound freedom is valuable to him, so much so that when Kimura tells him they could lead their own gangs, he just shakes his head and walks away. Plus, as he proves later in a pachinko parlor, you don’t need to be a yakuza to get revenge.
Of course, with another film still to go in the trilogy, it’s clear that Otomo’s not actually done being a gangster. Still, he intends for things to be different this time, and as his last meeting with the smug, know-it-all Kataoka shows, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make sure this stays the case.
That’s it for the seventh installment of Beat Happenings. Next issue, I’ll be writing about the final part of the Outrage trilogy, Outrage Coda. If this week’s issue has piqued your interest at all, you can stream Beyond Outrage for free on Tubi or rent it via Amazon, iTunes, and YouTube Movies. In the meantime, I’d love to hear any comments or suggestions you may have about the newsletter. Just reply to this email and let me know what you think.