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Full Metal Yakuza

UK based DVD label Eastern Cult Cinema is going to release Full Metal Yakuza in the UK and soon in the US as well. The label under which they are going to release it there is called Artsmagic. Now, prior to its release, here is a DVD review.

A review for the film can be found in the Reviews-section. Here is a direct link: Full Metal Yakuza

DVD Menus

The opening menu shows the image from the DVD cover with animated glowing sparks pattering on the image. Stylish effect here.

Picture Quality

The film is presented in its original aspect ratio 1.85:1 and has been anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs. This DVD release of Full Metal Yakuza suffers from the same problem which is present on the German disc (Asian Film Network) which is a blurry image when there is movement in the film. Due to the problem present on both DVDs, I take it that this is because of the poor film material this film has been shot on. Takashi Miike does not exactly shoot on high budget, so this is absolutely a possible reason.

People who buy DVDs for their great picture quality will possibly have to think twice before getting this DVD. If you want to watch this film however, I can tell you that there is no better alternative however. Don't get me wrong here. It's not that the film is unwatchable. Colours are quite good actually although a little bit washed out. Night scenes have been handled well and you can detect everything happening on screen. So don't worry about that. If you watch some of your old VHS tapes every now and then and don't complain, you will have a lot less to cpmplain here as it is still way better than VHS. It is free from scratches and grain is almost non-present.

Also notice... this is a straight-to-video-film, shot in 1997.

Audio Quality

The disc comes with a 2.0 Dolby Digital track in its original language Japanese. The track itself is free from scratches. I think it is needless to say that it is front based as well. Nothing special here like you would for example expect on DTS track, but as I mentioned above, this is a low-budget-straight-to-video-film from 1997 and hence we can not expect much more.

Subtitles

Subtitles are available in English. As it is very important with Asian films fans that the subtitles should be translations rather than dubtitles, I can say for sure that the subtitles present here are NO dubtitles. The film has been translated quite well. Don't get me wrong, I do not speak Japanese, but being a long-time Asian film fan, it is easy to make out any sort of westernisation in translating subtitles and I could not find any here. Good job there.

The subtitles are also easy to read of course not burnt in.

Special Features

Tom Mes, author of the book Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike, provides an audio commentary on this disc. He has a few quite interesting things to tell, however it would have been better if Eastern Cult Cinema had teamed him up with somebody else as he is a bit quite. At times the film's audio track is a bit too loud so that it is a bit hard to understand what Mes is saying. It might have been his first audio commentary he ever recorded. I am sure that if he is given the chance to record more of them and is also given somebody somebody to interact with, his commentaries can be as fine as the ones Bey Logan records for Hong Kong Legends. I consider Tom Mes an expert on Japanese cinema just as I consider Bey Logan an expert on HK cinema.

Next comes the Takashi Miike interview which lasts for an amazing 33 minutes and 18 seconds. The English subtitles are burnt in. This is an interesting interview if you want to find out about the way the director Miike makes his films.

The interview with Yasushi Shimamura, long-time editor for Takashi Miike, lasts for 14 minutes and 13 seconds. He talks about his experience of working with Miike. The good thing about that is that you will get to hear some funny anecdotes.

Coming up next are the biographies and filmographies for cast and Miike, the director. Overall there are text-based biographies for the following people:

Takashi Miike

Tsuyoshi Ujiki

Tomorowo Taguchi

Shoko Nakahara

Ren Osugi

Furthermore there are three trailers for upcoming ECC's (Eastern Cult Cinema) which are Malice@Dolls, A.LI.CE and Blue Remains. Those are all animes soon to be released.

Last but not least there is an artwork gallery which runs for 34 seconds. It showcases cover images of Asian films previously released on the ArtsMagic label.

Conclusion

If you are a fan of Miike and have not watched this, it is needless to say that you should get this film. This is the DVD version I would go for as the German DVD does not feature any special features. If you live in the USA you can cheer up as it will get released there soon and then in NTSC as well, which of course co-operates best with US TV systems. Also, make sure to visit the Artsmagic website to see what else there is coming from their sleeves.

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Written on April 14th 2004

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