This movie reminded me of August Le Breton; not that I've read any of his books, but I have seen RIFIFI and DU RIFIFI A PANAME, movies from his writings, of crooks fallen behind the times, who believe that there is honor among thieves, only to learn to their sorrow there isn't.
Ryô Ikebe has just been released from prison. He returns to a gang in a struggle to maintain its territory. He does his duty by his gang, but the only thing he cares about is the illegal gambling dens, one of the 'Pale Flowers' of the movie -- apparently the movie was held back because director Masahiro Shinoda shot the gambling sequences accurately in the midst of a government crackdown on the dens. The other pale flower is Mariko Kaga, a blank-faced beauty, likewise addicted to gambling, who only shows wild emotions in the aftermath. She's a compelling anomaly. In a Japan where the women exist solely for men's pleasure and for birthing their heirs, she seems to exist outside normal and Yakuza rules. As Ikebe falls under her succubine influence, he finds his rival is the lowering Takashi Fujiki, a psychotic dope fiend.
It's a film noir, demi-monde Pandemonium these two live in; the daytime shots on the streets of Tokyo are stolen and look washed out, reflecting where these people live; there's even a clock near the beginning, even though the Dutch Angles are missing. Instead we have people trying to fill time, at the racetrack, at cards, trying to distract them from the existential boredom with their lives, the yearning for the normal world of Japanese society they cannot enter. In the end, Ikebe knows, his role is to kill for his gang and go to prison, which is a limbo for him. What torments him is that he is neither good nor bad, so he must cycle endlessly between Limbo and the Abyss.
Ryô Ikebe has just been released from prison. He returns to a gang in a struggle to maintain its territory. He does his duty by his gang, but the only thing he cares about is the illegal gambling dens, one of the 'Pale Flowers' of the movie -- apparently the movie was held back because director Masahiro Shinoda shot the gambling sequences accurately in the midst of a government crackdown on the dens. The other pale flower is Mariko Kaga, a blank-faced beauty, likewise addicted to gambling, who only shows wild emotions in the aftermath. She's a compelling anomaly. In a Japan where the women exist solely for men's pleasure and for birthing their heirs, she seems to exist outside normal and Yakuza rules. As Ikebe falls under her succubine influence, he finds his rival is the lowering Takashi Fujiki, a psychotic dope fiend.
It's a film noir, demi-monde Pandemonium these two live in; the daytime shots on the streets of Tokyo are stolen and look washed out, reflecting where these people live; there's even a clock near the beginning, even though the Dutch Angles are missing. Instead we have people trying to fill time, at the racetrack, at cards, trying to distract them from the existential boredom with their lives, the yearning for the normal world of Japanese society they cannot enter. In the end, Ikebe knows, his role is to kill for his gang and go to prison, which is a limbo for him. What torments him is that he is neither good nor bad, so he must cycle endlessly between Limbo and the Abyss.