Afraid to Die

Plot

Yasuzo Masumura's yakuza yarn begins with an assassination attempt on Takeo (played by novelist Yukio Mishima), a gangster about to be released from prison. The assassin kills the wrong guy, however, and Takeo is released. On the run from a rival gang boss (Eiji Funakoshi) whom he wounded before going to prison, and too cowardly to go after him himself, he kidnaps his son instead. Meanwhile, he's also become involved with a new girlfriend, who is trying to get him to go straight. ~ Tom Vick, Rovi

Review

The one American director to whom Yasuzo Masumura is most often compared is the great Hollywood maverick Samuel Fuller. Like him, Masumura can inject passion, psychological insight, and political allegory into the most b-grade genre fare. In Afraid to Die he tries his hand on a fairly standard yakuza tale with mixed results. The film is filled with his always impeccable visual panache, and his depictions of the yakuza are certainly subversive. Far from tough hoods, they are portrayed as bunglers, cowards, rapists and strike breakers. Masumura's personal touches make the film interesting, but the plot is still pretty run-of-the-mill. In a bit of stunt-casting, famous novelist Yukio Mishima (Masumura's college classmate) plays the lead role. Unfortunately, he's not much of an actor. Stiff and self-conscious, he poses and smirks more than he acts. He just doesn't have the intensity required for the part. While not on a par with Masumura's better efforts, like Blind Beast and Giants and Toys, Afraid to Die is at least of interest for the personal vision he brings to substandard material. ~ Tom Vick, Rovi

Cast

Eiji Funakoshi; Yukio Mishima; Takashi Shimura

Credit

Yasuzo Masumura - Director

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