"Actor: Kazuya Kimura"

• Gonin | DVD | (27/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Takashi Ishii's visually sumptuous gangster movie Gonin ("The Five") is fascinating in its violence, its perversity and its quirkiness, even though its basic plot premise is fairly standard. Disco owner Bandai (Kouichi Sato) owes money to the yakuza boss Ogoshi and decides to rob him rather than pay him--the first part of the film shows him recruiting a crew of the damaged and despairing to help with the job, and disaster follows. Ogoshi hires the more or less unstoppable one-eyed hit man Kyoya ("Beat" Takeshi) and everyone ends up dead--robbers, gangsters and assassins--in an escalating sequence of reprisals. What is different about the film is the odd tangents the plot shoots off at--the sudden sexual attraction between Bandai and the con-man Mitsuya, the truth about the phone calls the desperate sacked salary man Ogiwara keeps making to his family--and its strong visual style. Crucial events take place in the background of shots, the sudden shift from neon-lit back al! leys to sunlight in the last sequence hits you like a blow in the face. Terrifying in its casual violence and impressive in its bleak nihilism, Gonin is one of the most interesting genre films of the 1990s.--Roz Kaveney

• Family 1 / Family 2 | DVD | (18/07/2005) from £28.35   |  Saving you £-3.36 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Based on the manga series of the same name 'Family' deals with the story of a small Yakuza clan whose position is being severely threatened by rival gangs. The boss isn't happy and more often that not he finds himself embarking on solo missions to retrieve kidnapped associates and restore the pride of the family. Hisao Maki's Manga comic is brought to life by acclaimed director Takashi Miike so prepare yourself for kidnapping murder boat chases big explosions sexual exchanges

• The Triple Cross | DVD | (27/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Triple Cross is a Japanese crime thriller that follows the bloody aftermath of a heist. Three robbers are double-crossed by new accomplice, Kazuya Kimura, and Kenichi Hagiwara takes the Lee Marvin Point Blank road, tracking him down amid escalating carnage and spectacular car chases. The film is littered with homages to crime classics, from the outlaw lovers of A Bout de Souffle to Hagiwara sporting a nose plaster in recognition of Jack Nicholson's Chinatown. Sonny Chiba is wasted in a supporting role but, given that the movie is being promoted as Reservoir Dogs-meets-John Woo, it's worth noting that Chiba is among Quentin Tarantino's favourite actors and stars in his forthcoming Kill Bill (2003). The Triple Cross (the American title Double Cross is far more accurate) is a well-crafted collection of gangster clichés, but suffers from a very uncertain tone, being pitched uneasily between serious crime drama and tongue-in-cheek comic-book action. Released following the success of director Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale (2000) this film from 1992 nonetheless anticipates many of the themes and attitudes of post-Tarantino crime cinema with remarkable prescience. Those who prefer their cinema to recognise civilised values or any sense of morality best look elsewhere. On the DVD: The Triple Cross disc has a 1.78:1 anamorphically enhanced transfer that is slightly soft in many shots, while the night-time scenes, filmed with very high contrast, are overly dark and lack detail in the shadows. The film was released theatrically in Dolby Stereo and though the packaging states 2.0 Dolby Digital the reality is very flat and dull Dolby Prologic mono. Explosions are squibs and gunshots lifeless. For a 1992 action movie the result is lamentable, but at least the subtitles are clear and free of the howlers that plague many comparable Hong Kong films. The DVD also features the original Japanese trailer and eight additional trailers for films on the Tokyo Bullet label. There is a gallery reproducing the original promotional stills, and well-written and reasonably extensive biographies and/or filmographies for five of the cast. --Gary S Dalkin