Jiro Asakawa (played by Shunsuke Matsuoka) makes his living by scamming small business out of large sums of money. One night after a severe beating in an alley, he sees a young woman (Amiko Kanaya) starting a fire in front of a factory. Jiro uses his knowledge of the fire to scam a foolish businessman named Mr. Moriyasu (Kuronuma Hiromi) into paying him a large sum of money to cover up negligence in his company. It is there that the same young woman turns up as Moriyasu’s daughter, Kumiko. Knowing that either one could blackmail the other in the matter, Kumiko and Jiro form a partnership and a very rocky relationship.

Meanwhile, Jiro’s scam is discovered by the yakuza boss, Mr. Kamewada (Shohei Hino), who hires him to pull off even larger scams for him. Jiro is given a bodyguard in the form of the idiotic, Jay (Shingo Tsurumi). Jay and Jiro run around doing small jobs and everything is going well until they decide to rip off Kamewada. They are caught almost immediately and it is only through Kumiko’s begging that they are spared. Jiro starts working on the scam of a lifetime but begins to suspect that Kumiko may be working as a spy for Kamewada.

Mobsters' Confessions is another twisted yakuza love story from Rokuro Mochizuki (A Yakuza in Love, Onibi: The Fire Within). As in his other yakuza films, Mochizuki’s direction is tight and the technical aspects are flawless. The lighting is especially good in this film and the cinematography is very sharp. Mobsters' Confessions is a very emotionally complex and engaging film as it is both hilarious and painful to watch as the story unfolds.

Shunsuke Matsuoka (Freeze Me) is very interesting as Jiro, the conman. He isn’t particularly tough (unless he’s slapping his woman around) and he isn’t particularly smart (since all of his schemes fall through) but he’s still a fascinating character. Amiko Kanaya is awesome as Kumiko. To say that her character has emotional issues would be the understatement of the century. She is used and abused by nearly every man that comes within arms length and her relationship with Jiro isn’t much different. More on that in a moment.

The comic relief comes from Shingo Tsurumi (Lakeside Murder Case, Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive) whose portrayal of Jay steals the film. Jay is a gun-dropping goofball who is so enamored with yakuza life as portrayed in pop culture that he is completely fearless. When he sees how dysfunctional Jiro and Kumiko’s relationship is, Jay praises them because they’re “cool” just like a yakuza couple should be. Whoa.

Much like Mochizuki's A Yakuza in Love, Mobsters' Confessions is a love story at its core but one that is anything but sweet. Jiro treats Kumiko like garbage and it is impossible to understand why in the world she puts up with it. Even as the details of her life become clear and the viewer is clued in to just how damaged she is, the whole situation is still difficult to bear. This just shows the talent of the cast and the director in that no matter how deplorable the situation, this is still a fascinating film and one that won’t rest easy in the viewer’s guts after the credits roll. Japanese cinephiles should definitely give Mobsters' Confessions a shot.

DVD Stuff

Good old Artsmagic. Another fine DVD release. The 5.1 audio is very powerful with some great bass and the widescreen presentation is practically flawless. In the extras on the disc there is a thorough interview with director Mochizuki about Mobsters' Confessions as well as a feature length commentary by Tom Mes. The only disappointing extra on the disc is a brief featurette on the song by Akira Kobayashi which is sung throughout the movie. I was hoping for a recording of the actual song but instead there is some history behind the song and what it is about. There are also some cast filmographies for the cast and crew as well.