Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War: the third entry of Fukasaku Kinji’s crime saga combines the (mostly) unrelated plots of the first two films into one overarching narrative, and also focuses more and more on the fascinating chess of ever-dynamic alliances. The result is a better sense of the enormous number of characters and the inner workings of the yakuza organizations, including what passes for honour and duty. Sugawara Bunta plays his character easily and makes a great protagonist. Kaneko Nobuo is fine as the main antagonist of the series; he, Tanaka Kunie, and Katoo Takeshi play their characters as buffoons, to reflect their general weaknesses. Cinematographer Yoshida Sadaji’s work is still efficient when portraying the chaos and sloppiness of the violence, but this time around, his precise framing (and the staging of the performers) of crowded boardrooms is more evident. The documentary-like work of editor Horiike Koozoo is solid, and the music remains great.

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Battles Without Honor and Humanity