Ginshiro, threatened by poor repute and upcoming star Tachibana, forces his friend Yasu to marry Konatsu, Ginshiro's pregnant mistress; Yasu becomes a stuntman to make ends meet.
Stunts
Actual stunt performers playing stunt performers playing actors.
Direction
Fukasaku's kinetic framing mocks and celebrates cinema simultaneously.
Acting
Hirata's puppy-dog suffering vs Kazama's preening narcissism.
Director
Kinji Fukasaku
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Fukasaku made this between his yakuza epics and Battle Royale, essentially doing a Bollywood-style melodrama with actual stunt workers.
The film-within-film structure critiques Japan's exploitation of contract workers decades before gig economy discourse went mainstream.
JP
