The first entry in Takashi Miike’s “Black Society Trilogy,” Shinjuku Triad Society burst into cinemas in Japan in 1995 - and announced the birth of a radical new artist in the world of genre filmmaking. Although he had made his debut in 1991, Miike had worked up to this point in the world of “V-cinema,” movies shot specifically for the lucrative VHS home video market. But with Shinjuku Triad Society, his producers were aiming at a wider audience and intended it from the start to be seen on the big screen.Kiriya (Kippei Shiina) is a cop with a secret. Responsible for patrolling the filthy, sweltering, crime-infested streets of the Kabuki-cho neighborhood of Shinjuku in Tokyo, he is continually busting drug and prostitution gangsters who have come to Japan from China. But what Kiriya has struggled to hide his entire career is that he himself is part-Chinese, a self-described “war orphan” born to a Chinese mother and Japanese father. When he comes up against a sadistic and unbalanced Taiwanese criminal named Wang (Tomorowo Taguchi), who is running a lucratvive business trafficking in childrens’ internal organs, he is forced to confront his own identity before he can take down the gang.Along with its “Black Society” follow-ups Rainy Dog (1997) and Ley Lines (1999), Shinjuku Triad Society established the style and themes which Miike would continue to explore for the entire first half of his prolific career. Dynamic, inventive, and violent, yet rich in story and character development, Shinjuku Triad Society is the first true masterpiece from a filmmaker who continues to surprise audiences around the world.
