Blues Harp

The plot has a kinship with Performance: a middle-ranking yakuza hides out from enemies in a small blues club and finds himself falling in love with its (straight) owner, the son of a black American GI and an Okinawan woman. It turns out to be a fatal attraction, because the gangster's deputy gets so jealous that he works up a plan to get the musician killed. Characteristically, Miike tackles the material head-on, using the setting (Yokosuka, the US military base seen in Imamura's Pigs and Battleships) and strong images (Yamamoto also shot Hana-Bi) to orchestrate a 'blues' for a doomed and predominantly one-sided love affair. With great performances from Ikeuchi (the musician) and Tanabe (the yakuza), it's as soulful as they come.