Shinjuku Triad Society

1995 1h 40m JA

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 71

ActionThrillerCrimeDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Tatsuhito, a cop, pursues Chinese warlord Wang through the underworld of Shinjuku and over to Taiwan.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

ARROWSubscription

Apple TV StoreRent

Apple TV StoreBuy

Cast

Kippei Shiina
Ryujin Kiriya
Takeshi Caesar
Karino
SABU
Shusuke Shimada
Kazuhiro Mashiko
Jun
Eri Yu
Ritsuko
Ren Osugi
Yakuza Boss
Sei Hiraizumi
Matsuzaki
Masahiro Sudo
Keigo Izhisaka

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Takashi Miike
Writers: Ichirō Fujita
Languages: Japanese, Mandarin
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

31 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Japanese, Mandarin.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Black Society Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Takashi Miike, shot by Naosuke Imaizumi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Atorie Shira. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Yasushi Shimamura shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kippei Shiina and Takeshi Caesar and SABU carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Takashi Miike directs. Naosuke Imaizumi behind the camera. Atorie Shira scores. Yasushi Shimamura cuts. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese, Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

131 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Japanese, Mandarin.
3Part of the "Black Society Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
5Directed by Takashi Miike, shot by Naosuke Imaizumi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Atorie Shira. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Yasushi Shimamura shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Kippei Shiina and Takeshi Caesar and SABU carry the top of the cast.
9IMDB entry: tt0258960 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 71 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
11Classified under 18 themes, including "yakuza", "chinese mafia", "taiwan", "organized crime".

The technical file

Cinematography: Naosuke Imaizumi
Original score: Atorie Shira
Editing: Yasushi Shimamura
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Status: Released
Original language: JA
IMDB: Shinjuku Triad Society (1995)

Part of

Black Society Collection

After several years spent working almost exclusively in the direct-to-video world of V-cinema in Japan, Takashi Miike announced himself as a world-class filmmaking talent with this trio of thematically-connected, character-centric crime stories about violence, the underworld of Japanese society, families both real and surrogate, and the possibly hopeless task of finding one's place in the world. His first films made specifically for theatrical release, and his first for a major studio, the Black Society Trilogy was the beginning of Miike's mature career as a filmmaker and they remain among the prolific director's finest works.