4 Star

Out of the Cesspit and Into the Firing Line.

From the renowned writer/director Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale, Virus) comes one of his early works, brought to us by Eureka (Masters of Cinema) Special Edition. This dark and gritty film shows the seedier side of Japans poor and the squalor they are trying to escape. Being filmed in black-and-white makes it harder to wipe off that grime, as you watch what three brothers will do to escape the filth of the slums. Staring the man of his era, the incomparable Ken Takakura (THE BULLET TRAIN, PRISON WALLS: ABASHIRI PRISON I-III, GOLGO 13, THE VALIANT RED PEONY: Red Peony Gambler I-III) as the stoic man, with a job to do. Classic stuff.

In the refuge heaps of Japan, the poorest of the poor live their lives among the piles of humanities detritus, as buildings reach for the sky, and so the most ambitious of its residents will reach for those lofty heights.

Three brothers, Kuroki (Rentarô Mikuni, Vengeance Is Mine, Chronicle of My Mother), Jirô (Ken Takakura), and the youngest Sabu (Kin’ya Kitaôji, The Legend & Butterfly, Whistleblower). Kuroki is the first to steal from his mother and run away to work for the Iwasaki Group, a group of Yakuza and their organised crime organisation.

Five years later, Jirô has had enough, and he follows his brother in stealing from his mother and heading for the city, where the ruthless organisation that Kuroki runs the Phoenix Club for, sets up Jirô to be arrested, where he spends five hard years in jail, and now he is out, and wants revenge.

Jirô and his partner in crime Mizuhara (Hideo Murota, Original Sin, Samurai Reincarnation) plan to steal twenty million yen off the Iwasaki Group, but they can’t do it on their own. What they need is Sabu, and his friends (they would be beatniks if they weren’t so poor) to help cause a distraction and steal the two bags the couriers are carrying. Can brothers be trusted, that is the question here.

Wolves, Pigs and Men is a study into what you would do to get to the top, when you start right from the very bottom, and being filmed in black and white makes the grime visceral, as well as the violence to follow.

All this is held together by a cracking jazz soundtrack. i.e. Wheels by Billy Vaughn and his orchestra.

Wolves, Pigs and Men is available on Special Edition Blu-ray

 

Eureka Store

SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:

Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju) [First print run of 2000 copies only] | 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a restoration of the original film elements supplied by Toei | Original Japanese audio track (uncompressed LPCM mono) | Audio commentary track by Jasper Sharp | Interview with screenwriter Jun’ya Satô | Interview with producer Tatsu Yoshida | Interview with Kinji Fukasaku’s biographer, Sadao Yamane | Trailer | PLUS: A collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Japanese cinema expert Joe Hickinbottom