Heitai yakuza

Vehement anti-militarism was a recurrent theme in Masumura’s work, and Hoodlum Soldier is his most disparaging take on the subject – a sardonic attack on Japan’s imperialism and the classist, hierarchical military system. This buddy comedy centers on the unlikely friendship that develops between Kisaburo, a hell-raising ex-yakuza gangster unwillingly turned into a military soldier (Shintarô Katsu, star of the Zatoichi series) and Arita (Takahiro Tamura), a meek pacifist intellectual, as they venture to find a way out of the army. Shot with a vivid realism uncommon in Masumura’s films, Hoodlum Soldier is a precursor to Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H: an uproariously funny, immensely entertaining war picture that champions survival and individualism over hollow patriotism. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)