Kyouki No Sakura

Japanese director Kenji Sonoda lends a youthful, sociopolitical spin to the wellworn yakuza genre with a hardhitting action film based on Kunio Hikita's bestselling novel KYOUKI NO SAKURA (roughly translated as MADNESS IN BLOOM). Kickboxer Yosuke Kubozuka stars as Yamaguchi Susumu, leader of a teenage street gang bent on fighting local crime through vigilante justice and a fierce devotion to traditional Japanese values. Yamaguchi's brand of ultraviolent nationalism earns the respect of likeminded yakuza boss Aota Shuzo (Yoshio Harada), who takes the youngster under his tutelage and showers him with the wealth and privilege endemic to the gangster lifestyle--but which often exacts a deadly price. Fueled by a throbbing soundtrack, nonstop action, and a visual style reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, KYOUKI NO SAKURA shares that movie's critique of both social decay and reactionary rebellion.