Yakuza Wives

1986, 120 min., 35 mm, color, in Japanese with live English subtitles. Directed by Hideo Gosha. With Shima Iwashita, Rino Katase, Akiko Kana, Riki Takeuchi.

From March 14–June 30, 2011:
50% of all ticket sales will go to Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund.

"Picture Bette Davis in a kimono."–Mark Schilling

What if the hardest men in town were, in fact, women? While her husband is in prison doing time, Tamaki (Shima Iwashita), the wife of a yakuza capo, is not wasting her time–she runs her spouse’s gang pretty much like Margaret Thatcher ruled the UK, with an iron fist. Meanwhile, Makoto (Rina Katase), her voluptuous younger sister, marries a member of a rival band after being raped by him. The two women decide they’re mad and won’t take it anymore: the mortality of the male characters is about to go north. Following the outlines of reportage by Shoko Ieda, who spent a year living among 28 wives of gangsters, Yakuza Wives became a huge hit and the first movie of a long-running classic series exposing the women who live in the shadows in a harsh, bright, crimson light.

Part of the Globus Film Series:
Hardest Men in Town: Yakuza Chronicles of Sin, Sex & Violence

TICKETS
$12/$9 Japan Society members, students & seniors

Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. – Fri. 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends 11 am – 5 pm.

Purchase more than 5 tickets for at least 5 different films and receive $2 off of each ticket! Special offer available only at Japan Society Box Office or by telephone at (212) 715-1258. Offer not available online.