Female Yakuza Tale

Title: Female Yakuza Tale
Should be Known as: Sex and Fury 2
Also Known As: Story of a Wild Elder Sister: Widespread Lynch Law
Originally known as: Yasagure anego den: sôkatsu rinchi
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: “Pinky Violence,” Action, Crime, Thriller
Starring: Reiko Ike, Agemi Negishi
Director: Teruo Ishii
Language: Japanese

If there is one thing I despise about this era of Japanese cinema it's the confusing titles. It's bad enough that you call the sequel something that nobody would ever figure out to be a sequel, but then you decide that it needs another name as well for the international audiences? Because everyone else in the world would scoff at a name that ridiculously long and pointless? But they aren't the only one from the era to make some such actions, so I can't count this against them specifically. If you missed my review of Sex and Fury then let me re-iterate the same rule: If you're female, you're done. Unless you're a lesbian who loves Japanese women. In that case you might want to get in on this.

Gone is the legendary Pinky Violence director of the first and in steps a new face, but don't fear too much as he is much a fan of the old – slightly misogynistic, it must be said – style of thinking and has recruited far more than just our lovable tattooed beauty, Reiko Ike, back into the fold. She is no longer the only woman who likes to do her killing by sword in the rain and naked, but she is eventually joined by an entire army of butt-naked beauty's, bouncing around and seeking revenge on those that have wronged them, not to mention the less well known Negishi returning to play a deadly nun who only prays before she kills. Not that being a nun really makes her all that shy to kill someone topless.

You can see how all this is shaping up to be a fine piece of man-oriented fun, but despite the cheese-filled Japanophiles wet dream evident in the characters, we don't spend all that much time seeing them flaunting it as a lot of the time is spent on the over-complicated plot. With Ocho (Ike) kidnapped by the evil members of the Ogi clan to be raped, she is left next to a woman with her crotch-gouged intending to set her up as a suspect for the mysterious crotch gouge murders plaguing the city. Swearing her revenge, she quickly encounters a man who knows more about them, angry about the death of the Ogi clan's boss and disappearance of his daughter, suspecting the ruthless uncle now in charge of killing them both. Investigating the racket the clan have set up, they discover they have coerced local prostitutes into doing their bidding in exchange for drugs they are now dependant upon, smuggling other drugs in the one place you'd expect a prostitute to use quite a lot, and in doing so coming under the watchful eye of local nun and prostitute protector Makato, who seeks retribution for what they have done to them.

And that actually makes it sound comparatively simple; its only an hour and a half long and you have well established detailed relationships to convey, not only between Ocho and the new boss as she was fond of the old one (not to mention a gambling side-plot) but also between the two ends of the drug running racket, between the Boss Lady (responsible for the prostitutes being used in the racket without her knowledge) and her whores, and then there's the consideration of each of the three different characters with unique reasons to get involved, all needing their side to the story adequately explained.

But yes, there are more whorehouse antics, bitch-slapping and bare breasts galore – more than any other Pinky Violence film I've seen – but it seems like he's forgotten that there was meant to be some violence in there as well, not just stern glances and threats but actual bloodshed. After the promising start with our gorgeous lead dancing in the rain to the tune of your heartbeat, spinning an umbrella and stabbing like some Japanese interpretation of Gene Kelly's “Dancing in the Rain,” there's next to nothing until the very end. And when the finalé does roll out after what feels like a catch-up session, there's none of the glorious slow-motion of the last that showed every gritty detail of each blow, and the choreography simply isn't up to scratch; it feels amateurish and poorly thought out, like a backyard brawl without any of the elegance of the graceful swordsman. It may not live up to the first but certainly shows no slacking in the writing department, once more producing a plot more detailed than I would have expected, and when the denouement involves dozens of women on the rampage wearing nothing but a red scarf, how can anyone resist?