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The Yakuza Movie Book
A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films
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Japanese gangster films, with their stoic yet explosively violent heroes, have influenced everyone from Eastwood to Jarmusch. The Yakuza Movie Book is the first book to look at this genre in detail. It features more than 100 film critiques and "top 10" recommendations plus profiles and interviews of famous actors and directors like Kinji Fukasaku, Takashi Miike, Takeshi -Kitano, Sho Aikawa and Bunta Sugawara. With dozens of stills and striking movie posters, this is a book any film lover will savor as a viewer’s guide and definitive reference.
Mark Schilling lives in Tokyo and has been reviewing Japanese films for the Japan Times since 1989. He is author of Contemporary Japanese Film and Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture.
"It's an excellent starting point for those intrigued by the backdrop of Kill Bill." -- Empire
"Schilling... has produced a remarkable work on an enduring guilty pleasure, the first of its kind in English." -- Library Journal
"Schilling is in total command of his field...the first Westerner willing and able to perform this useful service to world movie studies, and the sense of complete immersion in a genre will appeal to all film lovers." -- The Daily Yomiuri
"This is prerequisite reading for any and all fans of Asian cinema." -- Asian Cult Cinema
Press Reviews:
"Through yakuza movies we can see Japanese society at its most fundamental level. This is an important and valuable book." --Tadao Sato, film critic and author of "Currents in Japanese Cinema" -- Review
Press Reviews:
From Publishers Weekly : Yakuza films, with their "endless variations on the theme of revenge," have influenced American directors from Francis Ford Coppola to Quentin Tarantino. These Japanese gangster genre pics are a "great guilty pleasure," says Japan Times film reviewer Schilling, and though they had their "Golden Age" in the 1960s and 1970s, they're now enjoying renewed popularity in the West. Schilling has compiled profiles of and interviews with directors and actors, along with 100 reviews of yakuza movies, to present what the publisher calls the first book in English devoted entirely to this genre. Schilling charts yakuza's development, explains the origin of Japanese gangs, the various styles and qualities of the films, and the ways in which fans-in Japan and elsewhere-have responded to these movies. Each film review lists the director and cast members and offers a plot summary and Schilling's own critique; 60 black-and-white photos complement the text. It's a comprehensive package, sure to be of value to fans of yakuza and other gangster movies. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See the publisher website: Stone Bridge Press
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