Sympathy for the Underdog | Blu-ray

Another banger from Kinji Fukasaku. Sympathy for the Underdog just might be my favorite film from Japan's prolific Jitsuroku Eiga (docu-drama crime) director.

It has all his trademark style touches. Frenetic action, major exposition dumps, and choppy editing. But it also has a truly wonderful, jazzy score by Takeo Yamashita (notable for his work on Lupin the 3rd).

Koji Tsuruta is a commanding force in the lead as Masuo Gunji, a former big-time mobster, fresh out of prison, hoping to carve out a new space for his own yakuza faction in Yokohama. Alongside former real life yakuza member Noboru Ando and the ever dynamic Tomisaburo Wakayama (of Lone Wolf and Cub fame), Sympathy for the Underdog presents Fukasaku firing on all cylinders.

Special Features (via radiance.co.uk)

• High-Definition digital transfer
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Audio commentary by yakuza film expert Nathan Stuart (2024)
• Interview with Fukasaku biographer Olivier Hadouchi (2024, 27 mins)
• That Distant Territory - A visual essay on Okinawa on screen by film historian and author Aaron Gerow (2024, 26 mins)
• Trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation