Onibi: The Fire Within

Onibi: The Fire Within

1997 · 101 min · ★ 4.8 · Drama, Crime

After spending over half his life in prison, ex-hitman Kunihiro is determined to go straight. But the shortcomings of the new gangs mean that he is soon having to call on his old-school yakuza talents. And when he falls for Asako, a beautiful piano player, she unknowingly ignites a fire within Kuni that will immolate everything and everybody around him. Regarded by many as his masterpiece, Onibi has all the hallmarks of a Mochizuki film, with the gangster elements tightly compressed and controlled to allow space in which a subdued romance can bloom. Coming from a background in porno cinema, this master of sexual relations injects a fresh passion and tension into the macho world of the yakuza film.

Directed by Rokurō Mochizuki · Written by Toshiyuki Morioka

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Cast

Yoshio Harada Noriyuki Kunihiro
Reiko Kataoka Asako Hino
Show Aikawa Naoto Tanigawa
Kazuki Kitamura Hideyuki Sakata (as Yasushi Kitamura)
Ryushi Mizukami Hanamura
Hiroyuki Tsunekawa Satoshi Fujima
Yoshiaki Fujita Kinjo
Ei Kawakami Yoshida
Toshihiro Kinomoto Aoki
Seiroku Nakazawa Nagashima
Masai Ikenaga Kizaki
Eiji Minakata Kanigawa

Make it a double feature

3h 26m together

Onibi: The Fire Within

Skinless Night

Both from Rokurō Mochizuki.

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