Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen

After a long life as yakuza, Ryuzo is struggling to settle in retirement. The days are long, and with an insufficient pension, he is forced to live with his son and his family. His son, not wanting anything to do with his farher´s past, causes Ryuzo to look deep after the respect he thinks he deserves. Finally, it reaches to a point where he is not even allowed to be with his grandson. The time he spends reminiscing with close friends is thus his only bright spots in his life. One day, experiencing being victim of a scam by a new gang that has taken over the neighborhood, he decides to go out of his retirement and gather his old gang. Together they set a goal to reclaim their old area and show that old heroes still can serve. Unfortunately, not all organs work equally well with all members. Some things do not improve with age.

With Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen, the director demonstrates a clearly softer side of himself than what we are used to. The film has all the elements a Yakuza-film should have. It has power struggle, happy violence, sake drinking and women. But most of all is has a great slapstick humor. Shooting, sword fights and car chase is certainly put to show. But certain things tend to get more difficult as the average age of the gang members has passed 80 years.

Takeshi Kitano (b. 1947) is known as one of the Yakazu genre´s greatest directors. Since his debut film Violent Cop (1989), the Japanese underworld has been a consistent theme in his career. Though it was as a comedian and presenter on TV his career really started. With Ryzo and the Seven Henchmen he combines his great talents for real.