Black Angel
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Black Angel |
| Original title | 黒 の 天使 Vol.1 |
| Country of production | Japan |
| original language | Japanese |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Takashi Ishii |
| script | Takashi Ishii |
| production | Takashi Ishii, Hideo Momoda , Yūji Sasaki |
| music | Gorō Yasukawa |
| camera | Kazuto Sato |
| cut | Akimasa Kawashima |
| occupation | |
| |
Black Angel ( Japanese 黒 の 天使 Vol.1 , Kuro no Tenshi Vol. 1 ) is a feature film by the Japanese film company Shōchiku from 1998. Directed by Takashi Ishii . The staging of two strong female characters, who can only assert themselves in the male-dominated yakuza milieu by using violence , first appeared in Japan on May 30, 1998; on July 25, 2005 in Germany (directly on DVD).
In 1999, another self-contained straggler was created under the title Black Angel 2 , which Ishii directed again.
action
Six-year-old Ikkō has to watch how traitors from within her own ranks brutally murder her father, a venerable yakuza head, his lover (the supposed child mother) and other relatives. Ikkō narrowly escapes the cowardly attack. She is rescued first by a veteran yakuza, then by the so-called "Black Angel" (in the Anglicised version: Black Angel ), a black-clad hitman of the organization, and is loaded onto a plane to Los Angeles with a lucky charm.
14 years later, Ikkō returns to Japan in the presence of a bleached, combat-savvy companion. Her goal is to find her one-time savior with the real name Mayo. As the new "Black Angel" she also starts a cruel campaign of revenge against the alleged perpetrators and their accomplices. She quickly succeeds in killing some of those responsible. Little by little, Ikkō deciphered the background that once led to the plot. She learns that next to the Yakuza Nogi, stepsister Chiaki was behind the conspiracy. Nogi was interested in the leadership of the criminal organization, while Chiaki acted partly out of fear of loss of inheritance, partly out of contempt and anger towards her own father.
When an attempted attack on Chiaki fails because Ikkō cannot murder her stepsister, opponent Nogi intensifies his efforts to kill the young rebel. A little later, Ikkō's friend is beaten up and fatally injured. The avenger mobilizes her last reserves of strength, but falls into a trap. In the following, she is provided by the decrepit Mayo, which is only a shadow of herself, and delivered to the yakuza. Ikkō's lucky charm falls to the ground and Mayo, Nogi's reluctant lover, realizes the insanity of her deed. She, who was deliberately raped by Nogi and brought into drug and alcohol addiction, has betrayed her former guardian. Plagued by remorse, she later frees the defenseless Ikkō from the hands of the yakuza who have mistreated her in the meantime and takes her in.
After a corrupt police officer informs the two women about the complicated family situation (Chiaki is Ikkō's birth mother), Mayo and Ikkō continue the bloody campaign of revenge. Mayo succeeds in killing Nogi in front of Ikkōs and Chiakis, whereupon Chiaki in turn atones for the act and kills Mayo. Their death is in turn avenged in the end by the angry Ikkō, who shoots her mother Chiaki in cold blood.
background
Director Ishii originally wanted to cast the role of the Angel of Revenge with a specific actress. When this declined, however, he took up a suggestion from his producer and contacted Reiko Takashima. Takashima agreed, provided that she only played the Avenger once, although the production was designed as part of a series of feature films. Shōchiku therefore added the addition Vol.1 to the Japanese original title .
Another Black Angel had to be found for the planned film series, in which different actresses were to play different roles . The role was finally given to Yūki Amami , for which Ishii also said he adapted the script.
Reviews
The two thousand and one film lexicon described the production as "a varied avenging story with numerous subsidiary plots in which the calm narrative flow is repeatedly interrupted by eruptive outbreaks of violence" . The staging is a "rough film that subordinated its plot a little too much to the styled look" .
Web links
- Black Angel in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b cf. Entry on jmdb.ne.jp ; the IMDb erroneously mentions the year 1997 here
- ↑ a b c Interview with director Takashi Ishii, conducted by Satoko Ishida: Black Angel 2 DVD, I-On New Media from July 25, 2005
- ↑ Black Angel. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed December 12, 2010 .