Director Shiraishi Kazuya just had his latest theatrical opening this month with kidnapping thriller, Sunny/32, and is now onto the next round of promotions for his latest offering which arrives this summer. Enter Hiroshima with author Yuzuki Yuko’s 2015 bestseller, The Blood Of Wolves, serving as the basis for Shiraishi’s new crime noir thriller set in the years leading up to Japan’s crackdown on the Yakuza in the early 1990s.
The Devil’s Path helmer is joined by Twisted Justice scribe Ikegami Junya with actors Yakusho Koji and Matsuzaka Tori leading the narrative for the film pre-emptively driven by the author’s affinity for Showa-era crime tales as exemplary as Toei’s highly acclaimed ripped-from-the-headlines crime saga, Battles Without Honor And Humanity. The first official trailer is finally here as well and does amply in observing much of that bygone splendor of the roaring 80s crime lore with a plot highlights the boiler room-levels of intensity building between cops and crime organizations as moving pieces on both sides traverse the boundaries between trust and betrayal in more ways than several.
“What you’re doing is insane, Ogami! Police officers are supposed to uphold justice!”
“You wanna hear my idea of justice…? I ain’t got one.”
1988, Hiroshima. The Anti-Organized Crime Law has yet to be passed. Rookie policeman Shuichi Hioka (Matsuzaka) is assigned to a precinct where he is partnered with Shogo Ogami (Yakusho), a detective rumored to be in cahoots with the mob. They investigate the disappearance of a finance company employee, but Ogami’s erratic methods disturb Hioka. Meanwhile, the missing person case acts as a catalyst for conflict between rival gangs to intensify…
The film also hails something of a new milestone considering the rarity of films such as this one in today’s entertainment industry. I’m not entirely sure how this will be viewed domestically although I reckon there will be plenty of cinephiles at home and especially abroad who will be nonetheless intrigued.
Also starring are Maki Yoko, Takito Kenichi, Taguchi Tomorowo, Ishibashi Renji, and Eguchi Yosuke among the cast.
Watch the new trailer below!
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