Kill or Be Killed

When Yakuza decides to take avenge his brother, the war shall begin.

Brother

A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.

The Pinkie

Since they were both five, Ryosuke has been stalked by Momoko - the ugliest girl in the village. Her love for Ryosuke is so boundless that she has her face surgically altered to suit his taste - but still he wants nothing to do with her. Ryosuke goes in for fleeting romance - for example, with the girlfriend of a gangster boss. But when he finds out about their affair, he has Ryosuke's little finger hacked off. Magically, the finger falls into Momoko's hands, and she uses it to clone Ryosuke, so she can finally have him (or almost him) for herself. And this is just the first five minutes of Lisa Takeba's short-but-powerful feature debut. Just like in her previous short films, the director - who cut her teeth in the advertising world and as the writer of a video game - throws a lot of genres and techniques into the mix: from science fiction to gangster films, from hospital eroticism to animation. Hectic and absurd, but with its heart in the right place. © IFFR

Dolls

Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.

The Great Okinawa Yakuza War

Chiba, looking gnarly, and acting as animalistic as ever, stars alongside Matsukata as violent gangsters battling their way through fight after bloody fight with rival yakuza on the streets of Okinawa.

Dochinpira 5

Jin gets kicked out of the Ranko's apartment and uses his gigolo skills to find a place to stay for the night. He meets an absolutely gorgeous hostess club girl and she offers a deal: if Jin "finishes" first, he becomes her kept man. Jin wants to be taken care of, but his pride won’t let him lose like that. In the end, though, he’s completely defeated. Now, while his new "owner" keeps Jin around, she’s also being pursued by two men: Toyama, a brainy yakuza, and Oba, the man who sold her to a brothel. As Jin watches the situation unfold, he ends up caught in a dangerous incident far beyond his expectations!

Dochinpira 6

Urged to quit the gigolo life, Jin sets out to prove he’s still got it. But his pride gets him into increasingly risky situations, including a disastrously public tryst. While fleeing a group of Yokohama punks, he hides in a car and meets Akiko, a fierce, beautiful woman who immediately becomes his new obsession. There’s just one problem: Akiko is the leader of a rival biker gang. And when Jin seduces the girlfriend of the opposing gang’s boss, he becomes the target of a dangerous vendetta. To make things worse... Ranko is kidnapped!

Sonatine

Murakawa, an aging Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life, is sent by his boss to Okinawa along with a few of his henchmen to help end a gang war, supposedly as mediators between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, his group is attacked in an ambush. The survivors flee and make a decision to lay low at the beach while they await further instructions.

Black Rain

Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.

Dochinpira 2

The Haozakura-kai continues to relentlessly tail Jin every day, but now, a yakuza from the Enshin-gumi, Mizuno Tetsuo, appears. Just as they share a cup of sake as blood brothers, an assassin from the Tendo-gumi attacks and kills Mizuno, leaving behind his only sister, Rei. This is where Jin's days of agony begins, entrusted with Rei.

Japan's Most Chivalrous

Fireworks

Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his business partner paralyzed from a brutal gangster attack, Nishi borrows from a yakuza loan shark and then robs a bank to clear his debt.

Dochinpira 3

One day, Shimoda of the Minato Shinkai gang, appears before Jin. He begs him to buy out his childhood friend, who works at a soapland, on his behalf. Although Jin refuses on the spot, Shimoda's unnatural behavior bothers Jin. Just then, a shooting happens involving the boss of the Hongo-gumi, which is in conflict with the Minato Shinkai. The gruesome image of the gunman, Shimoda, who was shot dead, is shown on television, along with an outline of the incident. However, behind this seemingly simple incident, an unexpected truth is hidden...

Life of Hishakaku

After eloping with a prostitute named Otoyo, Hishakaku takes refuge in the Kogane family’s turf. Indebted to Boss Kogane for his kindness, Hishakaku swears to dedicate himself to protect the Koganes in time of crisis. Hishakaku’s humble life comes to a sudden halt when the Kogane family becomes involved in a fatal feud with their rival, and Hishakaku’s services are called upon.

Dochinpira 4

Jin’s recent life as a gigolo had been going terribly. No matter how long he waited, he couldn't find any good-looking woman. When he did finally find one, she turned out to be in the same business as yakuza and ended up taking his money, and to make things worse, she was into sadomasochism. In the middle of this mess, Jin runs into Ranko, one of his ex-girlfriends and both begin living together again in a strange and unexpected arrangement. Ranko now wants to live a honest life with him, but Jin hasn’t changed at all...

Blue in Isezaki

Motorpsycho!

A vengeful veterinarian and a grieving widow join forces to track down violent bikers after they commit heinous acts against their loved ones.

唄祭けんか道中

Overkill

A Tokyo cop is sent to Los Angeles to help an LAPD detective break up a yakuza ring operating in the city.

Dochinpira 10

Chased out of Shōnan for trespassing on gang turf, Jin Kaito flees to Yokohama. There he’s rescued by Makoto, a mysterious and seductive woman that runs the nightclub Southern Cross alongside other women, all sworn off men until their business becomes a hit. Their solution? Hire Jin as their exclusive sexual partner. Now, he lives the dream, satisfying a new woman every day, no strings attached. But things take a dark turn when Makoto’s ex-boyfriend returns, determined to steal control of the club by force.

Graveyard of Honor

A barkeeper saves a Yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However, his fear of nothing soon causes problems.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

Rainy Dog

A Japanese assassin stranded in Taiwan must take work from a local crime boss to make ends meet when suddenly a woman from his past delivers a son to him.

A Family

Taken in by the yakuza at a young age, Kenji swears allegiance to his old-school boss, pledging to adhere to the family code amid ever-changing times.

American Yakuza

When Nick Davis leaves prison after one year in solitairy, he is hired to operate a forklift in a warehouse in the harbor owned by the Japanese Yakuza patriarch Isshin Tendo. The place is assaulted by the Italian Mafia lead by Dino Campanela and Nick rescues and saves the life of Shuji Sawamoto, who is the representative of Yakuza interests in America. Shuji hires Nick to work for Yakuza and becomes his godfather in the family after his oath to join Yakuza. However, Nick is a lonely FBI undercover agent assigned to penetrate the criminal organization. When the FBI discovers that Campanela is organizing a massive attack to destroy the Yakuza, Nick's boss Littman calls off the operation to leave the dirty work to the Italian Mafia. But the connection of Nick with Shuji and his goddaughter Yuko forces him to help his Japanese family.

Agitator

When a young Yakuza torments the customers in a rival crime family's nightclub, it is not long before his dead body is found. Soon, inter-family retaliation follows, resulting in the death for a prominent crime boss. Devastated by this turn of events, the temperamental Kenzaki vows to avenge his boss's death and, as bloody violence ensues, the body count reaches excessive proportions.

Female Yakuza Tale

Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.

The Outsider

A former American G.I. joins a yakuza family after his release from prison in post-World War II Osaka.

Siberian Education

The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against this backdrop two best friends, Kolyma and Gagarin, gradually become fierce enemies as they find themselves on opposite sides of the strict code of honour of the ‘honest criminal’ brotherhood.

Belly

Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?

Tokyo Drifter

After yakuza boss Kurata dissolves his own criminal empire, a rival kingpin offers a position to Kurata's top operative, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo. When the fiercely loyal Tetsu declines, Otsuka taps unstoppable Tatsuzo the "Viper", a ruthless gun-for-hire, to assassinate him. As the Viper trails his target through the countryside, the agile Phoenix Tetsu grows concerned that one of his former associates has betrayed him.

Street Mobster

After serving time, a defiant street thug is incensed to find his town overrun by two yakuza factions. He gathers his crew and takes them on.

The Yakuza

When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.

The Return of Sister Street Fighter

When Koryu's childhood friend Shurei is abducted by gangsters, the desperate young woman recruits a female martial artist and a tough-as-nails stranger to join her for a dangerous rescue mission.

The Firm

A seemingly respectable estate agent leads a double life as the head of a vicious, well-organised gang of football hooligans.

Youth of the Beast

When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.

Under the Open Sky

Mikami, an ex-yakuza of middle age with most of his life in prison, gets released after serving 13 years of sentence for murder. Hoping to find his long lost mother, from whom he was separated as a child, he applies for a TV show and meets a young TV director Tsunoda. Meanwhile, he struggles to get a proper job and fit into society. His impulsive, adamant nature and ingrained beliefs cause friction in his relationship with Tsunoda and those who want to help him.

True Believer

Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet. With Roger's idealistic prodding, Eddie reluctantly takes on a case of a young Korean man who, according to his mother, has been in jail for eight years for a murder he didn't commit.

Winged Creatures

A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.

Violent Saturday

Three men case a small town very carefully, with plans to rob the bank on the upcoming Saturday, which turns violent and deadly.