I enjoyed this movie. It's been over 2 years since I saw it so my memory's a little hazy. I liked it because it's one of the few Japanese films to show the city slums without romanticising or understating them. It made me believe that this was what Japanese suburban degenerate deleterious sprawls actually look and feel like to live in.
Are there any other Japanese films that show suburban decay in a realistic sense?
It's really urban rather than suburban. I don't know if you can call it "real Japan", more like a realistic portrayal of one aspect of Japan, the underside of Japan. But yeah just watch any of Fukasaku's other movies. He made a lot of really gritty yakuza films. He opposed romantic portrayals of the yakuza and wanted to convey how dirty the yakuza life really is. I recommend his "Jingi Naki Tatakai" or "Battles Without Honor and Humanity" series, also known as "The Yakuza Papers".
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