Mobster's Confessions Review

Rokuro Mochizuki stands unique amongst purveyors of yakuza violence. Mochizuki got his start in the pinku industry and the experience certainly appears to have colored his later work, not so much in the skin-on-screen department – though he certainly doesn’t shy away from that – but in the emphasis on relationships. Mochizuki’s lead characters may be gangsters but he treats that aspect of their lives almost entirely as a simple job, much like any other, instead focusing on their relationships with other people in their lives. Onibi: The Fire Within may be widely acclaimed as the peak point of Mochizuki’s unique style but it is certainly not the only example and thanks to the folks at Artsmagic - who are now excavating his lengthy back catalogue in much the same fashion as they are working through Shinji Aoyama’s – there’s a whole lot more Mochizuki out there to explore.

Mochizuki’s Mobster’s Confessions falls neatly into his typical ‘is it or isn’t it a yakuza film?’ world. Based on a manga Mobster’s Confessions tells the story of Jiro, a small time independent con man preying on failing businesses caught by the collapsing bubble economy. When he finds a business in danger of losing key contracts Jiro cleans himself up and presents himself at the doors as a private investigator hired by the contractors in question to investigate the stability of the company. When he finds that the news is bad – as it always is – he prompts for bribes to report good news back to his fictitious clients. It’s a relatively simple scam and Jiro thinks he has his next victim on the hook when he comes across a beautiful young woman burning files and furniture in a warehouse parking lot late one night.

Jiro turns up at the door a few days later and all seems to be going according to plan until the woman, Kumiko, meets and recognizes him. But rather than blow his cover she plays along. The company owner introduces her as his daughter, which is only a part truth. Kumiko is his step-daughter and forced lover; she immediately whisks Jiro away in a cab, seduces him and begs him to take her away. Complications continue to mount when one of the company’s creditors – a local yakuza boss – recognizes Jiro for what he is and agrees to play along on condition that he gets a cut. Never get in bed with the yakuza. Before long Jiro has been assigned a ‘bodyguard’ – the laughable inept Jay – and is working full time for the yakuza syndicate taking home only a small portion of his takings. The film then moves into an elaborate string of cons and double crosses all strung together around Jiro’s relationship with Kumiko and his lingering doubts about her trustworthiness.

Unfortunately the concept here is slightly better than the execution. The scams are never explained clearly enough to fully enjoy the film as a caper flick and the relationship between Kumiko and Jiro is cold and exploitative enough – he uses her sexually in his scams – that it is difficult to see how she is any better off with him than she was in her previous life. And beyond the goofy lunacy of Jay, who steals the show in every one of his limited scenes, there's no central performance to match the intensity of Yoshio Harada in Onibi. Mochizuki clearly has a unique voice but it seems a little muffled here. Certainly an interesting film for fans of the genre but as an entry point to the man’s work I would suggest either Onibi or his Pandora: Hong Kong Leg short from the original Jam Films collection. Mobster's Confessions hits DVD January 31st.