After that brief interlude with a Russian war film we're back to Miike:
This is a classic. It looks all dirty and low budget, which really lends to the type of film it is. This was very early Takashi Miike, and is the first of a thematic trilogy referred to as his Black Society Trilogy. This was an era in which Miike was making a lot more straight-to-video movies than he does now. STS, however, was a theatrical release. Take note that in Japan straight-to-video movies don't necessarily have the same stigma that they do here. As a matter of fact, they call it V-Cinema and there are people that become stars in the V-Cinema world. All the info I just gave you may be completely outdated, as I learned it around the turn of the millennium.
Kiriya is a half-Japanese half-Chinese cop that works Shinjuku. He is a dirty cop in bed with the Yakuza. Chinese Triads are beefing with the Yaks, and he wants to put them out of the picture. Things get more complicated when Kiriya finds out that his younger brother, an attorney, is in bed with the Triads.
I'm not going to make a political statement here, but if you are offended by gay stuff then stay away from this movie because it is rife with gay sex acts. As a matter-of-fact it would seem that the whole of the Triad group, and at least one of the Yakuza bosses are at least bi-sexual.
What is the ice cube reference about? Watch the movie and find out for yourself. It is a good movie. If you like cop movies you will enjoy it. If you like organized crime movies you will like it. I give it ***(*) somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.
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