I have to seriously question the authenticity of this "documentary". It's far too polished, too rehearsed, too perfect. Here we are in the thick of Yakuza activity, and not one single face is blurred. But then again, one must ask himself why on earth would someone make a faux-doc so excrutiatingly boring.
One doesn't have to be a film school graduate to know that some of the camera shots and sequences would be impossible without much planning and rehearsal. Also, if you're going to run away from the Yakuza and go in to hiding, pretty much betraying the most dangerous people in the country, it's probably not a great idea to continue to film with some foreign documentarist. Naoki is either stupid or fake.
while not as potent as a documentary about yakuza and what they do, Young Yakuza prevails in bringing the viewer into the fold, letting us see what we normally wouldn't; letting us behind the tough, exterior curtain to see people much like ourselves engaging in a very strict social hierarchy. i do feel, though, that this is a better picture for those already familiar, to some extent, with what the yakuza are.
An extremely fascinating insight indeed into the yakuza - especially from the point of view of the "boss". However, I cannot help but feel that I still do not know what exactly the yakuza do.
Pretty dull stuff. I have no idea how they show a profit in modern times. Were they afraid of offending Yakuza? I get the feeling an important part of this film was cut out & what is left is pretty dull stuff.
wow! we met a yakuza on the beach in Hawaii '78. he was inked from head to toe. quiet calmness was his aura