Onimasa

The first of three novels by Tomiko Miyao that Gosha adapted in the eighties. This historical fresco covering around twenty years offers an unusual glance behind the scenes of day-to-day life of “one big happy family" of a peculiar, self-centered Yakuza boss who likes to think of himself as a successor of the samurai tradition and his eventful struggle for a place in the sun against other clans, economic crisis, the changing times and his own family. It could easily have been titled Once Upon a Time in Japan, because if Gosha is (quite rightly and aptly) referred to as the Japanese Sergio Leone, this is his answer to Once Upon a Time in America. The only fault I can find is the length; it’s too short and often you can see that they had to cut it a lot; basically, the fates of all characters apart from the central duo Matsué/Onimasa are terribly short-hand and that is a crying shame. P.S.: Dog-lovers may have trouble stomaching the scene with the (un)symbolic dog fight; that certainly wouldn’t get Humane Society approval. (03/31/2013)