Level

Ichi the Killer

December 2001 •Japanese

As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.

The Viper Brothers: Up on 30 Charges

March 1974 •Japanese

Part 7 in a long running (8+1 films) action/comedy/melodrama series about a pair of short tempered, amoral, but not evil chinpira (Bunta Sugawara and Tamio Kawachi) thinking too big of themselves. Katsuji finds his long lost mother, who is a rich lady of a respectable family. Comedy and melodrama ensue. A thrilling spectacle with an overly violent ending, and a remarkable, Japan's only post-prison rape comedy, Masa is determined to have sex with the female guard, despite the fact that there is a bar between them. Michi Azuma (topless swordswoman from Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril) plays a tomboy who wants to join her brothers.

Dead or Alive 2: Birds

December 2000 •Japanese

Two contract killers cross paths in the middle of the same job and realize they are childhood friends. Together they take a break from killing and visit the small island they once called home. After reflecting on their past lives they decided to team up and use their talents in killing for good... much to the upset of the crime syndicates.

The Clan's Heir is a Trans Woman

May 2013 •Japanese

The head of the Tatsumi family falls ill and dies after requesting that his son, who disappeared 15 years ago, takes over. The Tatsumi family, including the young head Ryu, decides to search for his son's whereabouts in order to keep his will. They finally find his son and learn he is now a woman. Meanwhile, the hostile Honjoukai are plotting to steal the Tatsumi family's territory.

Greatest Boss Of Japan

April 1970 •Japanese

A man who became the third boss faces off against delinquent foreigners and villains vying to rule the underworld in order to develop the port city.

House of Gamblers

March 1970 •Japanese

Ken Takakura stars as Ryoji one of the Aramasa family's loyal lieutenants whao takes the burden of his family being insulted by the Tanuma's family goons, by retaliating on his own. After injuring the head of Tanuma's family, and slaying others along the way, he then surrenders to the law and serves time. Before his last year to serve, the head of the Aramasa family falls ill and decides to retire, Ryoji miss chance to be successor, his old friend is reluctant but accepts. Now this gives the Tanuma family a chance for revenge! But with Tomisaburo Wakayama (Sekine) always having your back, how can you go wrong?

Showdown in Little Tokyo

August 1991 •English

An American with a Japanese upbringing, Chris Kenner is a police officer assigned to the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. Kenner is partnered with Johnny Murata, a Japanese-American who isn't in touch with his roots. Despite their differences, both men excel at martial arts, and utilize their formidable skills when they go up against Yoshida, a vicious yakuza drug dealer with ties to Kenner's past.

Music Box

March 1989 •Japanese

A former yakuza returns to gangster life after an old enemy threatens his son.

The Shortest Distance Is Round

July 2019 •Japanese

Haruto is a freshman and a loner high school student until the arrival of the new teacher Aoyama. Aoyama cares for Haruto and starts to exchange letters with him, as something more grows inside both of them. But one night, an unexpected kiss ends their beautiful relationship. Three years later, Haruto has become a male prostitute in order to pay back his debts, when he reunites with Aoyama by chance.

Gozu

July 2003 •Japanese

Minami mistakenly kills a gangster associate of his named Brother. Almost as soon as the murder takes place, the body of the deceased man is gone, prompting Minami to conduct a search. While looking, he finds a mysterious isolated hotel where he decides to take a rest. Not only are the front desk clerks a bit strange, but even the ambiance feels unusual. Minami soon realizes he may have gotten more than he bargained for.

Dolls

October 2002 •Japanese

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.

Enlisted Yakuza

September 1968 •Japanese

It is the third film in the Gokudo series. In this episode, set in 1937, the main character of the series gang leader Shimamura is drafted into the military and fight in China.

Black Rain

September 1989 •English

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.

唄祭けんか道中

May 1956 •Japanese

Blue in Isezaki

December 1968 •Japanese

Sonatine

September 1993 •Japanese

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.

Fireworks

October 1997 •Japanese

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.

CONFLICT: Outbreak

May 2016 •Japanese

The Hyodo-gumi boss—part of Tendokai, Japan’s largest yakuza syndicate—has been brutally murdered. Kazuma Washio (Hitoshi Ozawa), the head of the Washio-gumi and Tendokai’s wakagashira (underboss), is convinced that Yoshinari Myojin (Sho Aikawa), a former Tendokai wakagashira-hosa now running Tokyo’s underworld of thugs and mafia, is behind the killing. Around the same time, Tendokai's 5th-generation chairman Katsushige (Hakuryu) orders Washio to secure a woman named Nagi Toyama (Akane Hotta). Washio sets out with his men, Okita (Yasukaze Motomiya) and Date (Hideo Nakano), but they’re ambushed by a group of heavily armed youths. Barely escaping, they manage to bring Nagi to their hideout—only to discover she’s a key player in a power struggle over the Tokyo Casino Project. And so begins the greatest conflict yet, entangling yakuza, mafia, street gangs, the police, and even the state itself—

The Outer Way

June 1998 •Japanese

The cop Himuro is picked as scapegoat by his superiors because of their own involvement in sokaiya gangster practices.

Motorpsycho!

August 1965 •English

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