Our Blood Will Not Forgive

The theme of revenge coursing through Suzuki Seijun’s Oretachi no chi ga yurusanai (Our Blood Will Not Forgive, 1964) deconstructs the common violence associated with the yakuza genre and reveals the generational consequence of crime. Opening on a long take of a peaceful home life – a mother sewing, a child practicing the piano – the camera voyeuristically moves through the rain, looking in the window like an unwanted visitor. We are following the perspective of an assassin, who soon breaks into the house and kills the father. We discover from a newspaper report that the victim is yakuza boss Asari Genji (Midorikawa Hiroshi) before the film cuts well into the future, his two sons now grown. This prologue alludes to the nature of the film, with Genji’s final words declaring that “the yakuza line ends with me.” The film’s central conflict is how his sons, Ryota (Kobayashi Akira) and Shinji (Takahashi Hideki), respond to this declaration, as the yakuza blood running through them beckons to a life of crime. 

When we first meet the two brothers as grown men, Suzuki makes their contrasting personalities apparent – Shinji is a jokester who struggles to take things seriously and is repeatedly compared to his father, whereas Ryota is a much more mature and responsible salaryman. Tormented by the loss of his father, Shinji seems unwilling to face his responsibilities in life, something that comes to a peak when the Asari family’s ordinary existence is disrupted by the arrival of the assassin that claimed Genji’s life – Tobita Ushigoro (Inoue Shōbun) – who grovels for forgiveness for his crime. Shinji retaliates with violence, seemingly intent on murdering Tobita, as Ryota does his best to restrain him. Shinji’s brash response highlights the resentment he harbours for the death of his father – particularly as it is only minutes later that we see Shinji and Tobita determined to reform the Asari Clan together after the latter saves the former from a group of thugs. Through fighting together, they become determined to return to the yakuza roots that Genji renounced. 

Genji’s widow, Hatsu (Hosokawa Chikako), provides another viewpoint into the torment wrought by the yakuza lifestyle. Having suffered greatly from her husband’s death, she attempts to slow her sons’ turn to crime and prevent them from succumbing to the same fate as their father. Yet Hatsu never has any true autonomy, simply left to witness the events that unfold. When Tobita arrives, she displays only grief, declaring that “I took this family out of the yakuza world a long time ago” and begging him to leave. Suzuki utilises Hatsu’s lack of agency to highlight the helplessness experienced by families of those who turn to crime, being the voice who unsuccessfully attempts to save her sons from their eventual turn to revenge. This makes her character a pivotal part of the film – her attempt to honour Genji’s wish to keep Ryota and Shinji safe looms over the brothers, amplifying the severity of their mistake once they are called to the yakuza life. Her concern is an ever-present reminder of the consequences for their actions, which are made even more distressing throughout the film’s final act.

Suzuki and cinematographer Mine Shigeyoshi imbue the film with a feeling of voyeurism at many pivotal moments. Most notable is the opening where the camera tracks past the windows to look inside the Asari household, but this recurs at many moments throughout its runtime. Shots are repeatedly framed right outside of a room, the walls creeping in from the side of the image as if the viewer is sitting right outside, or pressed back up against a wall. These compositions underscore the sense of helplessness that the ultimately futile revenge culminates in, as we witness Ryota and Shinji make decisions that can only end in their downfall, no matter how noble their intentions may be. One of the most striking scenes in the film comes following Shinji’s discovery of Ryota’s yakuza connections while the brothers are isolated in the latter’s car, the storm raging outside – which is rendered by rear projection – isolating them from the outside world. Suzuki does not let the viewer’s attention divert from the brothers’ arguing – it seems as if even Ryota cannot see where he is driving, doggedly focusing on the road to distract himself from his brother’s questions. Ryota explains that the yakuza connections in his blood have tainted him no matter how he tries to escape it. It appears that waves are crashing down around the car, physically sinking the brothers into the underworld together.

While most of the film is shot in domestic settings, with many scenes highlighting the characters’ regular lives compared to the excitement expected from a life of crime, the cinematography in the final act is a clear divergence, turning to something much more like an action film. This turning point is crucial to not only delivering on the film’s title, as it is the moment where the brothers ultimately fight for their revenge against the yakuza responsible for ordering the assassination of their father, but also demonstrates the depths to which they have fallen. The style shifts to shots of wide, open fields and plains that the characters run and fight throughout, suddenly reorienting our perspective. Taking place at night, it seems as if the darkness is literally enveloping Ryota and Shinji, just as the underworld has taken its irreversible hold on them. Suzuki abandons the presence of everyday life that allowed the film to hint at a chance of redemption.

The implicit rebellion against the yakuza genre in Our Blood Will Not Forgive is presented through the relatively mundane nature of the film. While there are several moments of violence throughout, none of it culminates quite as totally as this final sequence, where the brothers’ downfall is made more apparent than ever. Similarly, Suzuki makes it clear that revenge, however inevitable it may be, is always doomed to end in further agony for those seeking it. While Our Blood Will Not Forgive may lack the significance attributed to Suzuki’s other works, it is nevertheless a profound critique of how the yakuza code both binds and dooms individuals across generations – particularly highlighting the tragedies that result from senseless crime.

Oretachi no chi ga yurusanai/Our Blood Will Not Forgive (1964 Japan 97 mins)

Prod Co: Nikkatsu Prod: Takagi Masayuki Dir: Suzuki Seijun Scr: Matsuura Takeo Phot: Mine Shigeyoshi Ed: Suzuki Akira Mus: Suzuki Tadanori, Ikezawa Hiroshi Prod Des: Kimura Takeo

Cast: Kobayashi Akira, Takahashi Hideki, Takashina Kaku, Inoue Shōbun, Matsubara Chieko, Ozawa Eitaro, Midorikawa Hiroshi