March 20, 2024 • 32 mins
After his devastatingly fast, samurai-style combat approach sets filmmakers against him, a legendary action star films his own movie-on turf claimed by feauding Yakuza gangs, including one of Japan's most deadly martial arts assassins.
Starring Tak Sakaguchi, Togo Ishii, Sho Aoyagi, Itsuji Itao, Rumika Fukuda, Keisuke Horibe, Kenjiro Ishimaru, Ohji Hiroi, Norhisa Hiranuma, Taro Suruga, Kohei Fukuyama, Kanon Harumi, and more.
Cinematography by Jiroyuki Ozawa
Stunt/Action Direction by Kensuke Sonomura
Written and Directed by Yudai Yamaguchi
Starring Tak Sakaguchi, Togo Ishii, Sho Aoyagi, Itsuji Itao, Rumika Fukuda, Keisuke Horibe, Kenjiro Ishimaru, Ohji Hiroi, Norhisa Hiranuma, Taro Suruga, Kohei Fukuyama, Kanon Harumi, and more.
Cinematography by Jiroyuki Ozawa
Stunt/Action Direction by Kensuke Sonomura
Written and Directed by Yudai Yamaguchi
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(01:23):
All right, let's send him aback another dish. How we doing out
there? Good? Great Gray yana yan, wonderful as you see on
your screen, your dial. Howeveryou are choosing to join me today,
I guess I appreciate you. Iknow, the cast and crew and everyone
involved in either making or releasing thisfilm is definitely appreciative of you, know
(01:48):
you guys lending me your ears today. So as you see one percenter,
one percenter? What is one percenter? After his devastatingly fast Samurai style of
combat approach sets filmmakers against him,a legendary action star Toshiro played by Toksakaguchi,
(02:08):
films his own movie on a turfclaimed by feuding Yakuza gangs, including
Japan's deadliest martial arts assassin. SoI gotta sayitute this is a bittersweet one.
It was so good that I knowthat most action pieces for the rest
(02:32):
of this year just aren't going tocompare. I truly mean that like it.
I like the style in which thiswas done. Taksaka Gucci ji Kundo
Master with one of the final sequenceswithin the film, versus Togo Ishi,
(02:54):
another jik Kundo Master. In fact, I just learned that Togo has his
own on YouTube channel called the onethe one Inch Channel, obviously referring to
the one Inch Punch uh and GangHoly Cow. Like, So, first
and foremost, who's one percenter?Who's starring in one Percenter? You got
(03:17):
Taksaka Gucci from Versus. If youhaven't seen that movie, that movie is
wild. It's about every genre thatyou could pack into a movie. You
got kung fu, horror, fantasy. That movie is just fucking wild.
So if you haven't seen Versus withToksaka Gucci, I believe that was his
first film, check that out.Talk was also in Death Trance, Uh
(03:40):
Sagagaki Oko Oto, Let's try thisagain, Oto Kojuguki, Tokyo, Gore
Police, Mutant Girls, Squad,Born, Red Blade Kingdom, Crazy Samurai,
Prisoners of a Ghost Land, RedEyes, The Seeler, and Bad
City. And I believe he wasalso in Crazy Samurai. I don't believe.
(04:02):
I know he was in Crazy Samuraifour hundred versus One. If you
haven't seen that one, if fornothing else, check it out for just
the the balls tak had been takingon a piece like Crazy Samurai four hundred
versus One. If you don't knowanything about that film. I think it's
got an eighty eighty five minute onetake fight sequence, so that's something you
(04:24):
might want to tech check out.So Taksakaguchi, togo Ishi, show a
Yogi or a Yagi, it's Suji. This is so funny. I'm reading
these names or the first time outloud. Probably should have done it beforehand,
but that's what makes this show fun. You get to hear me fuck
up and be the loser. Iam you got. It'suji Itao, It's
(04:46):
Suji Itao, Rumaka, Fukuda,Rumika, Fukuda, Kaisuke, Horibe,
Kinjiro Ishimaru, Ohi hiro Hiroi norhe's a hiro Numa. I'm not doing
too bad. Taro Serugo, Saruga, Kohi Fukiyama, and Canon Harumi.
(05:11):
Not too many characters in this,but the characters that do have you know,
more than one line of dialogue.Everyone's pretty good. From the filmmaker
that starts following uh, talk around. Uh, let's do some character names.
But the filmmaker that starts to followTushahiro Takuma, uh Taku Takuma around,
(05:34):
he's good in it. The girlthat they rescue. She's good in
it. The girl villain who maybe like if we're talking peer acting and
peer character in the entire film,she probably takes the cake. She's the
evil villain, daughter of one ofthe Yukuza gangs. We got cinematography which
(05:56):
was off the charts in this filmby hiro Yuki Ozawa. The stunt direction
and action direction by Kenzuke Sono MiraKenzuke so Mira. Written and directed by
Udai Yamaguchi, who has done ABC'sof Death dead Ball. I still got
to see dead Ball. Go KuduHaiki Abductee, But yeah, Udai Yamaguchi.
(06:21):
The camera work in this film,the stunt direction, the sound design.
I think the sound design may beone of my favorite parts. Everything
is downplayed in this anyway. ToshiraTakuma is a famous action star. He
has created that this is the characterwe're talking about now, played by Toksaka
Gucci. He has created his ownstyle called assassination jutsu zero range combat,
(06:46):
and he's combined all his stuff muchlike Jikundo. He has combined everything into
a discipline that he calls wave andwave actually looks so fucking cool on seeing
but so here's the deal, Gang, Toshiro wants to make a one hundred
percent real action film. He thinks, having been on all the now that
(07:08):
he's a tried and true action star, this we do a little time jumping
within the film. Now that he'sa tried and true action star star,
he wants to do a one hundredpercent real action film. But none of
you know, nobody who makes filmswants to do that, because this is
people go to action films for fantasy, not realism. However, Toshiro could
(07:29):
be more on the opposite side ofthe fence with that. In fact he
is, it would be like Ifeel like his character is like the Daniel
day Lewis of kunn Fu Fighting.So he's all method. He is in
Baby. He he doesn't want todo anything half assed, and everything's got
to be real. If you're gonnathrow a punch, it better be a
fucking real punch. You're gonna throwa knee at better be a fucking real
(07:49):
knee. Otherwise Toshiro is gonna getfucking bored. But I'll give you some
brief things. And here I'm gonnatry to mess up the structure that I've
been doing for many years on thisshow, and I'm gonna start giving you
guys some scenes without spoiling too much, you know, just to kind of
a jumping off point. I'm gonnagive you some scenes set up that sort
(08:11):
of thing. But we're really notgonna just have me blathering and doing everything
but talk about the film, whichI think I've done for the past few
years is just I try to getyou all fired up with my passion.
But it's time to switch it upand I'm fucking bored. So anyway,
it's the movie starts on the setof another action film after we are present
(08:31):
day, because in the past wewe kind of oh no, there's more
ruining shit. So it starts onthe set of another action film. And
the way that it's shot and theway that it's presented to us watching one
percenter the action film is very dull, no stylization, no sound effects.
As we're watching the actors and actressesuse the wire play, but it plays
(08:52):
up what the character Toshiro was sayingin the beginning, nothing's real, you
know, why do people want towatch this? He doesn't get it,
you know, and his uh lackof enthusiasm is noticed by producers and directors
on film, and the director comesover, pulls him aside, and basically
(09:15):
just tells them action films are popularbecause of fantasy, not realism, so
either get your shit together or youcan fucking fuck off and you can just
tell to share doesn't care about it, doesn't care about the opinions of anyone.
But the flip side of that,the filmmakers don't care about any of
the disciplines or techniques that he's developedon his own. So in fact,
(09:37):
I believe one of the producers tellsu to Shiro, like, listen,
none of your assassination jutsu or yourwave or your zero range combat. Nobody
cares about that on set. Weonly care that if it looks good to
Shiro is expectedly annoyed by the producersnotes from the scene, if you will,
(10:03):
So we bring in Akira. Akirais going to go on or wants
to go on, to direct toShiro's new action film where everything is one
hundred percent real, And we doa little backstory here through a monologue where
Akira is speaking about basically he hasbeen trying to train with Toshiro for quite
some time now, but he's justnot he's not man enough in terms of
(10:30):
his own and those are his ownwords, like he couldn't keep up with
the training, he couldn't keep uptaking a fucking beating. But he still
just finds Toshira someone that needs toToshiro someone that needs to that he wants
to be around, so he continuesto try to train as much as he
can with Toshiro. Akira does andthey're friends, even though from the looks
(10:50):
of it, Toshiro doesn't have anyfriends. He is lost in his mind,
which if you stick through it tothe end, which that I'm definitely
not going to ruin. I lovehow the end plays out. I really
do in terms of kind of howToshiro sees the world or sees himself rather.
(11:13):
I actually just a side note,it's kind of funny to think that
if you look this movie up onGoogle, a lot of different sites are
calling it a comedy. This isone of those things where sometimes the Asian
comedy hits for me, sometimes itdoesn't in terms of how it was comedic.
Like I laughed at the idea thatthat would you know what, let's
(11:35):
ruin it that everything's in his head. I laughed at the idea of that.
But as far as like me willingto call it a Japanese action comedy,
as you will read on some otherwebsites, no, I'm not going
to do that. I know fora fact that I'm cinema inclined, cinematically
(11:56):
inclined enough to be able to tellwhen joke are trying to be fit in
and which which aren't. I didn'tthink that that was the case where I
would ask some of these people callingit a comedy, where is it in
the last twenty minutes, because assure as fuck ain't in the first you
know, fifty five minutes to anhour. It's definitely not no secret.
(12:18):
There's some pieces here and there,like any action film where you have like
a tagline or one of the villainsdoes and says something fucking stupid that you
know, kind of puts it overit makes you hate that character more.
But as far as like has kneeslapping and fucking Abin and Costello, shit,
that's just not a thing. Itshould be noticed. That wave,
the uh should be noted, thediscipline wave that Toshiro has made up.
(12:43):
It's basically like gecundo, It's everythingthat you've learned in mixed martial arts and
incorporating it into your own thing.Who who created gcundo? Gang boy?
I hope most of you are screamingat the fucking dashboard right now, or
however you're listening this going, you'dbe fucking right. But I gotta tell
you, man, well, thisis making this conversation for a different day.
(13:05):
I as time goes on, Ibecome less and less impressed with Bruce
Lee. I know, I saidit. That's fucking sacrilege. What the
fuck am I saying over here?But the fact of the matter is,
we have what four or five filmsto base Bruce Lee's skills on. Listen,
gang, Philosophically, Bruce was oneof a kind and certainly one of
(13:28):
an era during that time. However, I have seen Jackie, I have
seen jet, I have seen Donnie, I have seen Talk do things.
I have even seen Eco ou Wi'sfrom the Raid movies do things that I've
never seen Bruce do. So anyway, let's let's get out of there.
Let's get out of the Bruce pasion. Because I do love Bruce Lee.
(13:50):
I just I'm starting to feel likeBruce Lee's kind of like Tupac and biggie
in the sense where people don't wantto move on to what's evolved. I
really I do. Anytime we talkabout Bruce talk to somebody about Cumfu film
Bruce Lee's best of all Time?Eh, you kind of sound like you're
saying pac is the best of alltime and that's just not true anymore.
(14:13):
Gang. And here's the thing,don't confine yourself to any one era.
I mean, I'm kind of goingoff the rails here with this whole Tupac
Biggie thing, But don't confine yourselfto any one era. I have a
saying in my personal life l eclearn, evolve, contribute. I say
it to my chick all the time. I say it to myself all the
time. And this it put itto you this way. You can't trust
(14:37):
a person who listens to the samemusic they did in high school. So
if you can kind of make thatleap with me how I was talking about
Bruce Lee, and you can't trustanyone who listens to the same music all
the time that they did in highschool. Hopefully you can make that leap
anyway. That's wave Akira is ableto find some financing for this one hundred
(14:58):
percent real action film for Toshiro.However, his financing looks a little shady.
The man that they get the financingfrom looks a little fucking shady,
but nevertheless they get the financing.Guess what, They're being sent to an
island seemingly claimed by the Yukuza.They get sent to an island to shoot
(15:20):
their one real action film which isclaimed by the Yakuza. You can see
where this is going, right gang, But anyway, Toashiro is about ready
to get to make the action film. Toshiro is about to get ready to
make the action film that he's beenwaiting ten years to make. So let's
(15:41):
go through some of these action pieceshere. Tell me tell you a little
bit about what I liked. Andit's such a bummer because I know I'm
not going to see anything for therest of the year like this, unless
fucking the Raid three is gonna comeout and we just didn't know about it
or something. I don't know,but I'm confident I will not like action
(16:06):
sequences that are within this. Idon't see me liking anything more in terms
of an action direction, action choreography, camera work, and everything clicking on
all cylinders. I don't think aspossible this year gang in fact, well,
let's just get into it. Sowe have this first meeting with some
(16:27):
low level, low level yakuza's.The way that he disarms these cats is
about as effortless and as clean asit can be. Everything is downplayed,
The sound sound design is downplayed.I love that more than anything. I
don't need to hearts. I don'tneed to hear every five seconds. Sometimes,
(16:53):
yeah, it's fine. Sometimes thefilm warns it, but the precedent
has already been set by the timewe get to the first action sequence that
it is gonna be basically the soundsof the sleeves on jackets and coats and
shirts making No, you're not gonnahear these thuds that reverberate throughout your surround
(17:14):
sound system. Ain't it gonna happen. But the way that he disarms these
first yakuzas, as he's talking shitas he's going along, it's so fun
to watch. Next great fight sequencewe have is within the scrawling stairwells of
this abandoned factory. See we getsent to an island owned by yakuzain.
(17:36):
It's got things for Taksaka, Gujiand the rest of the crew to play
with, so a fight within thesescrawling stairwells of an abandoned factory. The
camera work here is so spot on, and we continue with the tone that
we've set throughout the movie. Everything'sdownplayed, everything is subtle, everything is
(17:56):
sharp. It's all clean, andthat's just a testament to the way Tak
Saka Gucci moves. It's not likeanything you've really seen before. Of course
you've seen different mixed martial arts anddisciplines on screen. Of course you have.
I'm not you're not going to see. There is some creativity within this
(18:17):
film, which I will get tohere in a moment that you've never seen
before. But in terms of likefight sequence, like I mean, come
on, guys, if you've watchedas many kunfu films as I have,
it is so hard and again we'llget there in a second. For me
to see style, because I'm tothe point now where I can notice all
different styles on screen, I don'tknow if that's a good or bad thing,
(18:40):
because I can't do the shit.So basically, like I'm just an
armchair kunfu expert. I can justpoint at my screen like the Leo meme
and be like I know that disciplinethat they're using right now outside that don't
know how to use it in reallife. So I am a piece of
shit. I just go, hey, oh that's fucking hungar. Oh Hey
that's ge Kundo. Oh hey,that's just traditional moy Thai. If nobody's
(19:03):
going to pay me for being ableto notice different disciplines on fucking film.
But anyway, everything's so clean.In this sequence, he uses all eight
of his weapons. If you aren'taware of the eight weapons that are on
the body seek moy Thai anyway.One of my favorite bits within this scene
is, amongst his subtle choreography inhere, he also, of course everyone
(19:33):
gets disarmed with their you know,AK forty sevens and everything. But one
of the things that I found mostfun is he ejects one of the magazine
clips from the AK forty seven anduses it as a weapon, not in
the sense that you think it is. It's more about to debilitate the villains,
(19:59):
just like it's more or less aboutto stun or give a Charlie horse
or hit. But he's not usingit to kill and mame, which is
what Another part of this film thatI love is you're not going to see
an obscene amount of gore and saylike that you saw and like the night
comes for us. Everything is downplayedto the max, but him hitting pressure
(20:22):
points with a magazine clip and makingit look as effortless as he does.
Ugh, it's so fun to watch. Se fun to watch, And then
like, as if the magazine clipwasn't good enough, he picks up a
wrench along the way, and againhe's not cracking people's fucking skulls. It's
(20:42):
more about disarming, disorienting and uh, you know, here's a here's a
broken kneecap for your troubles. It'snot this bloodfest that you may think when
someone says, yeah, there's akun fu fighter with a rent. When
you hear that, you think,oh man, somebody's head is getting caved
(21:04):
in A side note around this part, and I haven't decided if I'm angry
or I'm trying, or if thisshould be more comedic to me than it
actually is. But by this pointin the film, they're calling Toshiro played
by toksaka Gucci Jackie as in Jackiechan like. They keep like there's some
(21:27):
walkie talkie communication between talk after hepicks it a Toshiro, the character rather
picks it up from one of thefallen Yakuza henchmen, and he's talking to
one of the bosses and they andthey keep calling him Jackie. On the
one hand, I really don't.I hope you're not making fun of Jackie
(21:48):
Chan, cause that boy, inhis heyday is one of the craziest motherfuckers
to have ever lived. So thiswhole like, oh, maybe Jackie doesn't
know how to you actually fight,and he's you know, trained by the
Chinese ballet and blah blah blah.Jump off a fucking building like Jackie does,
(22:11):
jump jump into a fucking pillar oflights and slide down the light.
This I'm not saying that Taksaka Gujiisn't more of a killer than Jackie Chan.
I don't know that. I likeyou making fun. Now, if
I were to talk to the filmmakersand they were like, no, we
weren't making fun. It's an homageto Jackie. We fucking love Jackie Chan.
(22:32):
And it's like, well, byabout the fifth time that it's fucking
mentioned, you start to wonder,You start to wonder if I kid you.
Note I looked over at my chickat one point, I was like,
do these people have beef with JackieChan? Because this isn't funny anymore.
And you know, maybe I'm sucha Jackie Chan homer that I was.
I was taking it a little tooserious, But I don't know,
(22:56):
Gang, you be the judge andfucking dm me and tell me what you
think. Anyway, in the previousfight within the stairwells of the factory,
he confiscated a flashlight, so asthe next fight scene ensues, the flashlight
(23:17):
makes an appearance and taksaka Gucci usesit in a way that makes it now
hear me. I'm not going tosay I'm an expert on everything or on
anything anything. I'm not an experton anything, but I have seen quite
a few action films in my day. What happens next might be one of
(23:40):
the most creative fight scenes I canthink of in recent memory. Gang,
I know, and for those ofyou who listen to the show or it
can just know me in real life, doesn't that just make you want to
go out and get one percenter rightnow? Cause if you know, if
I'm saying one of the most creatornative fights in recent memory, it's got
(24:02):
to be good, and it isthe way that tak is able to keep
the same tone that he has previously, and by tone, I just mean
that subtle, sharp, clean.We don't start to go off the rails
as the film goes on, asa lot of action films do. We
just eventually just kind of shit thebed and then it becomes about car chases
and explosions and people getting tossed offfucking buildings and shit like that. The
(24:27):
way that he is able to keepthis tone or the tone that he's already
set previously in the prior scenes withthis flashlight, and how he uses it
to his advantage to take out aboutfifteen fucking Yakuza members. Oh, Chef's
kiss, Chef's fucking kiss. It'snothing short of amazing. I mean,
(24:51):
if you're an action film fan,it's probably something you've never seen before.
And from a filmmaking aspect, thechoice for Yu Dai Yamagu to use traditional
action music, you know what I'mtalking about. You know exactly what I'm
talking about, using traditional action musicat the start of the well, let's
(25:11):
just call it the flashlight fight,at the start of the flashlight fight,
to what he chooses towards the endwith a classical composer, almost as if
he's making music, he is doinga fight dance, which is kind of
funny because he hates when Toshiro's charactertoaksaka Gucci's character. Toshiro hates when action
(25:36):
films look like dances. They shouldlook real, they should look violent.
But in this sequence we go from, like I said, traditional action music
to a very classical music piece.Oh, it fits so good. The
editing here is so good. LikeI I literally and this is the first
(25:57):
time, the first time I waswatching it, because now I've watched it
two or three times I can't remember. But the first time watching I even
was like I leaned over my chick. I'm like, hey, I'm sorry.
I have to rewind that and watchit again. It was that good.
And most of the time I don'tdo that through first run throughs on
a film. I like it.I don't like ruining momentum. I hate
(26:17):
pausing, stopping, starting, allthat other shit. I actually rewound it
and watched it again my first runthrough, which is a sacrilege thing to
do for me, at least ifyou know me, you know I don't
do that thing, So you knowthat's how goddamn good. That fucking fight
sequence was like I just I wasjust like, oh, oh my god,
(26:38):
oh oh come And anyway, beforewe get to our final action piece,
I would like one of our finalaction pieces, I do want to
say after the flashlight fight. Somewherein between the flashlight fight and the final
action sequence, there is a Thereis two great pieces of acting by the
(27:02):
females involved in this one. They'reboth daughters of Yakuza. One's good,
one's bad. And I got totell you, the bad one just puts
on a clinic and so does thegood one. You have this pull between
good and evil that up until thatpoint we weren't getting like we were kind
of getting hammy acting, whether itbe from the crew who tells Tashiro that
(27:25):
he's shit basically, or some ofthe Yakuza prior, like it plays like
an action film, but in thisone then it gets like deadly serious for
a moment, and I just wantedto make sure to shout out both those
actresses because I was like, damn, dude, this we got dark in
a hurry, Like this was veryvery lighthearted for the most part, like
(27:49):
you're just kind of like, oh, this guy really wants to shoot his
fucking action film, and he wantsto do it real. And now we're
invested in these two girls that arecaught up in a yarn that they don't
want to be in. One wasbone into it, molded by it,
and the others said, no,fuck that. I don't want to be
a part of my dad's business thatends in fucking jail or death. So
no, anyway, shout out tothem too. Now comes their final fight
(28:12):
sequence between Taksaka Guji and Togo Ishi. Holy man, holy shit, so
good. It's amongst some of thecleanest, most downplayed action sequences you will
ever see. And technically, froma technical aspect, it's firing on all
cylinders. The camera work, thesound design, and of course the choreography
(28:36):
that takes place throughout this nothing shortof spectacular. I love anytime we can
mix it up and we just kindof use little things that perhaps break down
another fighter. No spoilers here,but just little shit. I don't need
(28:56):
a fucking crescendo of music when we'vedisarmed the final villain or anything like that.
I just need. Hey, weacknowledge that the fight is about to
take a turn, and then wejust fucking do it. Oh, Gang,
please go get this movie right nowif you can stream it on high
(29:18):
Yeah, stream stream it wherever youwant, or get the Blu Ray.
I will be doing a Blu Raygiveaway for this one. Well Go Usay's
release of One Percenter is out now. Again, Well Go USA's release of
One Percenter is out now. Noexcuses, Gang, if you've been following
me from the jump, it's oneof the best action films I've seen in
(29:41):
years. I would put it upthere top fifty if we're talking, let's
say, just in the last decade, top fifty, just based solely on
its execution. At the end ofthe day, the story is what it
is, you don't it's it's ararity when you get a good combination of
story and action choreograph. And it'snot to say that this story is shit.
(30:02):
Like I said, wait till theending where you can kind of choose
your own adventure in terms of what'sgoing on into Shiro's head. But it's
one of my favorites in the pastdecade, and it's a testament to its
execution and it being like a realfight. You know, when when you
hit somebody in a real fight,it doesn't fucking reverberate off the fucking walls
(30:26):
in which you're fighting in. Itis a very just I can't do it.
I'm fucking I got a microphone,but I was about ready to try
to shook you what a punch reallysounds like? Anyway? One Percenter is
available now is available now by wellGo USA. One Percenter starring Taksaka Guchi,
(30:47):
Togo Ishi, show A Yogi isSuchi a taile Rumakafukuda, Kaizuke Horibe,
Kenjiro Ishimaru, oh He Hero norHe's hiro Numa, Taro Saruga,
Kohai Fukiyama can in Harumi. Cinematographyby hiro Yuki Ozawa, and of course
(31:12):
that stunt direction and action direction byken Zuke Sonomura, written and directed by
yu Da Yamaguchi. Holy Cow,Taksaka Guchi can do no wrong. One
Percenter, well Go USA streaming andavailable now. No excuses, Gang.
(31:36):
All I can tell you is youguys are about to get so upset with
the amount of kung Fu movie episodesI'm about to release, and I don't
give a shit. Hell listen TomA week out
All right, let's send him aback another dish. How we doing out
there? Good? Great Gray yana yan, wonderful as you see on
your screen, your dial. Howeveryou are choosing to join me today,
I guess I appreciate you. Iknow, the cast and crew and everyone
involved in either making or releasing thisfilm is definitely appreciative of you, know
(01:48):
you guys lending me your ears today. So as you see one percenter,
one percenter? What is one percenter? After his devastatingly fast Samurai style of
combat approach sets filmmakers against him,a legendary action star Toshiro played by Toksakaguchi,
(02:08):
films his own movie on a turfclaimed by feuding Yakuza gangs, including
Japan's deadliest martial arts assassin. SoI gotta sayitute this is a bittersweet one.
It was so good that I knowthat most action pieces for the rest
(02:32):
of this year just aren't going tocompare. I truly mean that like it.
I like the style in which thiswas done. Taksaka Gucci ji Kundo
Master with one of the final sequenceswithin the film, versus Togo Ishi,
(02:54):
another jik Kundo Master. In fact, I just learned that Togo has his
own on YouTube channel called the onethe one Inch Channel, obviously referring to
the one Inch Punch uh and GangHoly Cow. Like, So, first
and foremost, who's one percenter?Who's starring in one Percenter? You got
(03:17):
Taksaka Gucci from Versus. If youhaven't seen that movie, that movie is
wild. It's about every genre thatyou could pack into a movie. You
got kung fu, horror, fantasy. That movie is just fucking wild.
So if you haven't seen Versus withToksaka Gucci, I believe that was his
first film, check that out.Talk was also in Death Trance, Uh
(03:40):
Sagagaki Oko Oto, Let's try thisagain, Oto Kojuguki, Tokyo, Gore
Police, Mutant Girls, Squad,Born, Red Blade Kingdom, Crazy Samurai,
Prisoners of a Ghost Land, RedEyes, The Seeler, and Bad
City. And I believe he wasalso in Crazy Samurai. I don't believe.
(04:02):
I know he was in Crazy Samuraifour hundred versus One. If you
haven't seen that one, if fornothing else, check it out for just
the the balls tak had been takingon a piece like Crazy Samurai four hundred
versus One. If you don't knowanything about that film. I think it's
got an eighty eighty five minute onetake fight sequence, so that's something you
(04:24):
might want to tech check out.So Taksakaguchi, togo Ishi, show a
Yogi or a Yagi, it's Suji. This is so funny. I'm reading
these names or the first time outloud. Probably should have done it beforehand,
but that's what makes this show fun. You get to hear me fuck
up and be the loser. Iam you got. It'suji Itao, It's
(04:46):
Suji Itao, Rumaka, Fukuda,Rumika, Fukuda, Kaisuke, Horibe,
Kinjiro Ishimaru, Ohi hiro Hiroi norhe's a hiro Numa. I'm not doing
too bad. Taro Serugo, Saruga, Kohi Fukiyama, and Canon Harumi.
(05:11):
Not too many characters in this,but the characters that do have you know,
more than one line of dialogue.Everyone's pretty good. From the filmmaker
that starts following uh, talk around. Uh, let's do some character names.
But the filmmaker that starts to followTushahiro Takuma, uh Taku Takuma around,
(05:34):
he's good in it. The girlthat they rescue. She's good in
it. The girl villain who maybe like if we're talking peer acting and
peer character in the entire film,she probably takes the cake. She's the
evil villain, daughter of one ofthe Yukuza gangs. We got cinematography which
(05:56):
was off the charts in this filmby hiro Yuki Ozawa. The stunt direction
and action direction by Kenzuke Sono MiraKenzuke so Mira. Written and directed by
Udai Yamaguchi, who has done ABC'sof Death dead Ball. I still got
to see dead Ball. Go KuduHaiki Abductee, But yeah, Udai Yamaguchi.
(06:21):
The camera work in this film,the stunt direction, the sound design.
I think the sound design may beone of my favorite parts. Everything
is downplayed in this anyway. ToshiraTakuma is a famous action star. He
has created that this is the characterwe're talking about now, played by Toksaka
Gucci. He has created his ownstyle called assassination jutsu zero range combat,
(06:46):
and he's combined all his stuff muchlike Jikundo. He has combined everything into
a discipline that he calls wave andwave actually looks so fucking cool on seeing
but so here's the deal, Gang, Toshiro wants to make a one hundred
percent real action film. He thinks, having been on all the now that
(07:08):
he's a tried and true action star, this we do a little time jumping
within the film. Now that he'sa tried and true action star star,
he wants to do a one hundredpercent real action film. But none of
you know, nobody who makes filmswants to do that, because this is
people go to action films for fantasy, not realism. However, Toshiro could
(07:29):
be more on the opposite side ofthe fence with that. In fact he
is, it would be like Ifeel like his character is like the Daniel
day Lewis of kunn Fu Fighting.So he's all method. He is in
Baby. He he doesn't want todo anything half assed, and everything's got
to be real. If you're gonnathrow a punch, it better be a
fucking real punch. You're gonna throwa knee at better be a fucking real
(07:49):
knee. Otherwise Toshiro is gonna getfucking bored. But I'll give you some
brief things. And here I'm gonnatry to mess up the structure that I've
been doing for many years on thisshow, and I'm gonna start giving you
guys some scenes without spoiling too much, you know, just to kind of
a jumping off point. I'm gonnagive you some scenes set up that sort
(08:11):
of thing. But we're really notgonna just have me blathering and doing everything
but talk about the film, whichI think I've done for the past few
years is just I try to getyou all fired up with my passion.
But it's time to switch it upand I'm fucking bored. So anyway,
it's the movie starts on the setof another action film after we are present
(08:31):
day, because in the past wewe kind of oh no, there's more
ruining shit. So it starts onthe set of another action film. And
the way that it's shot and theway that it's presented to us watching one
percenter the action film is very dull, no stylization, no sound effects.
As we're watching the actors and actressesuse the wire play, but it plays
(08:52):
up what the character Toshiro was sayingin the beginning, nothing's real, you
know, why do people want towatch this? He doesn't get it,
you know, and his uh lackof enthusiasm is noticed by producers and directors
on film, and the director comesover, pulls him aside, and basically
(09:15):
just tells them action films are popularbecause of fantasy, not realism, so
either get your shit together or youcan fucking fuck off and you can just
tell to share doesn't care about it, doesn't care about the opinions of anyone.
But the flip side of that,the filmmakers don't care about any of
the disciplines or techniques that he's developedon his own. So in fact,
(09:37):
I believe one of the producers tellsu to Shiro, like, listen,
none of your assassination jutsu or yourwave or your zero range combat. Nobody
cares about that on set. Weonly care that if it looks good to
Shiro is expectedly annoyed by the producersnotes from the scene, if you will,
(10:03):
So we bring in Akira. Akirais going to go on or wants
to go on, to direct toShiro's new action film where everything is one
hundred percent real, And we doa little backstory here through a monologue where
Akira is speaking about basically he hasbeen trying to train with Toshiro for quite
some time now, but he's justnot he's not man enough in terms of
(10:30):
his own and those are his ownwords, like he couldn't keep up with
the training, he couldn't keep uptaking a fucking beating. But he still
just finds Toshira someone that needs toToshiro someone that needs to that he wants
to be around, so he continuesto try to train as much as he
can with Toshiro. Akira does andthey're friends, even though from the looks
(10:50):
of it, Toshiro doesn't have anyfriends. He is lost in his mind,
which if you stick through it tothe end, which that I'm definitely
not going to ruin. I lovehow the end plays out. I really
do in terms of kind of howToshiro sees the world or sees himself rather.
(11:13):
I actually just a side note,it's kind of funny to think that
if you look this movie up onGoogle, a lot of different sites are
calling it a comedy. This isone of those things where sometimes the Asian
comedy hits for me, sometimes itdoesn't in terms of how it was comedic.
Like I laughed at the idea thatthat would you know what, let's
(11:35):
ruin it that everything's in his head. I laughed at the idea of that.
But as far as like me willingto call it a Japanese action comedy,
as you will read on some otherwebsites, no, I'm not going
to do that. I know fora fact that I'm cinema inclined, cinematically
(11:56):
inclined enough to be able to tellwhen joke are trying to be fit in
and which which aren't. I didn'tthink that that was the case where I
would ask some of these people callingit a comedy, where is it in
the last twenty minutes, because assure as fuck ain't in the first you
know, fifty five minutes to anhour. It's definitely not no secret.
(12:18):
There's some pieces here and there,like any action film where you have like
a tagline or one of the villainsdoes and says something fucking stupid that you
know, kind of puts it overit makes you hate that character more.
But as far as like has kneeslapping and fucking Abin and Costello, shit,
that's just not a thing. Itshould be noticed. That wave,
the uh should be noted, thediscipline wave that Toshiro has made up.
(12:43):
It's basically like gecundo, It's everythingthat you've learned in mixed martial arts and
incorporating it into your own thing.Who who created gcundo? Gang boy?
I hope most of you are screamingat the fucking dashboard right now, or
however you're listening this going, you'dbe fucking right. But I gotta tell
you, man, well, thisis making this conversation for a different day.
(13:05):
I as time goes on, Ibecome less and less impressed with Bruce
Lee. I know, I saidit. That's fucking sacrilege. What the
fuck am I saying over here?But the fact of the matter is,
we have what four or five filmsto base Bruce Lee's skills on. Listen,
gang, Philosophically, Bruce was oneof a kind and certainly one of
(13:28):
an era during that time. However, I have seen Jackie, I have
seen jet, I have seen Donnie, I have seen Talk do things.
I have even seen Eco ou Wi'sfrom the Raid movies do things that I've
never seen Bruce do. So anyway, let's let's get out of there.
Let's get out of the Bruce pasion. Because I do love Bruce Lee.
(13:50):
I just I'm starting to feel likeBruce Lee's kind of like Tupac and biggie
in the sense where people don't wantto move on to what's evolved. I
really I do. Anytime we talkabout Bruce talk to somebody about Cumfu film
Bruce Lee's best of all Time?Eh, you kind of sound like you're
saying pac is the best of alltime and that's just not true anymore.
(14:13):
Gang. And here's the thing,don't confine yourself to any one era.
I mean, I'm kind of goingoff the rails here with this whole Tupac
Biggie thing, But don't confine yourselfto any one era. I have a
saying in my personal life l eclearn, evolve, contribute. I say
it to my chick all the time. I say it to myself all the
time. And this it put itto you this way. You can't trust
(14:37):
a person who listens to the samemusic they did in high school. So
if you can kind of make thatleap with me how I was talking about
Bruce Lee, and you can't trustanyone who listens to the same music all
the time that they did in highschool. Hopefully you can make that leap
anyway. That's wave Akira is ableto find some financing for this one hundred
(14:58):
percent real action film for Toshiro.However, his financing looks a little shady.
The man that they get the financingfrom looks a little fucking shady,
but nevertheless they get the financing.Guess what, They're being sent to an
island seemingly claimed by the Yukuza.They get sent to an island to shoot
(15:20):
their one real action film which isclaimed by the Yakuza. You can see
where this is going, right gang, But anyway, Toashiro is about ready
to get to make the action film. Toshiro is about to get ready to
make the action film that he's beenwaiting ten years to make. So let's
(15:41):
go through some of these action pieceshere. Tell me tell you a little
bit about what I liked. Andit's such a bummer because I know I'm
not going to see anything for therest of the year like this, unless
fucking the Raid three is gonna comeout and we just didn't know about it
or something. I don't know,but I'm confident I will not like action
(16:06):
sequences that are within this. Idon't see me liking anything more in terms
of an action direction, action choreography, camera work, and everything clicking on
all cylinders. I don't think aspossible this year gang in fact, well,
let's just get into it. Sowe have this first meeting with some
(16:27):
low level, low level yakuza's.The way that he disarms these cats is
about as effortless and as clean asit can be. Everything is downplayed,
The sound sound design is downplayed.I love that more than anything. I
don't need to hearts. I don'tneed to hear every five seconds. Sometimes,
(16:53):
yeah, it's fine. Sometimes thefilm warns it, but the precedent
has already been set by the timewe get to the first action sequence that
it is gonna be basically the soundsof the sleeves on jackets and coats and
shirts making No, you're not gonnahear these thuds that reverberate throughout your surround
(17:14):
sound system. Ain't it gonna happen. But the way that he disarms these
first yakuzas, as he's talking shitas he's going along, it's so fun
to watch. Next great fight sequencewe have is within the scrawling stairwells of
this abandoned factory. See we getsent to an island owned by yakuzain.
(17:36):
It's got things for Taksaka, Gujiand the rest of the crew to play
with, so a fight within thesescrawling stairwells of an abandoned factory. The
camera work here is so spot on, and we continue with the tone that
we've set throughout the movie. Everything'sdownplayed, everything is subtle, everything is
(17:56):
sharp. It's all clean, andthat's just a testament to the way Tak
Saka Gucci moves. It's not likeanything you've really seen before. Of course
you've seen different mixed martial arts anddisciplines on screen. Of course you have.
I'm not you're not going to see. There is some creativity within this
(18:17):
film, which I will get tohere in a moment that you've never seen
before. But in terms of likefight sequence, like I mean, come
on, guys, if you've watchedas many kunfu films as I have,
it is so hard and again we'llget there in a second. For me
to see style, because I'm tothe point now where I can notice all
different styles on screen, I don'tknow if that's a good or bad thing,
(18:40):
because I can't do the shit.So basically, like I'm just an
armchair kunfu expert. I can justpoint at my screen like the Leo meme
and be like I know that disciplinethat they're using right now outside that don't
know how to use it in reallife. So I am a piece of
shit. I just go, hey, oh that's fucking hungar. Oh Hey
that's ge Kundo. Oh hey,that's just traditional moy Thai. If nobody's
(19:03):
going to pay me for being ableto notice different disciplines on fucking film.
But anyway, everything's so clean.In this sequence, he uses all eight
of his weapons. If you aren'taware of the eight weapons that are on
the body seek moy Thai anyway.One of my favorite bits within this scene
is, amongst his subtle choreography inhere, he also, of course everyone
(19:33):
gets disarmed with their you know,AK forty sevens and everything. But one
of the things that I found mostfun is he ejects one of the magazine
clips from the AK forty seven anduses it as a weapon, not in
the sense that you think it is. It's more about to debilitate the villains,
(19:59):
just like it's more or less aboutto stun or give a Charlie horse
or hit. But he's not usingit to kill and mame, which is
what Another part of this film thatI love is you're not going to see
an obscene amount of gore and saylike that you saw and like the night
comes for us. Everything is downplayedto the max, but him hitting pressure
(20:22):
points with a magazine clip and makingit look as effortless as he does.
Ugh, it's so fun to watch. Se fun to watch, And then
like, as if the magazine clipwasn't good enough, he picks up a
wrench along the way, and againhe's not cracking people's fucking skulls. It's
(20:42):
more about disarming, disorienting and uh, you know, here's a here's a
broken kneecap for your troubles. It'snot this bloodfest that you may think when
someone says, yeah, there's akun fu fighter with a rent. When
you hear that, you think,oh man, somebody's head is getting caved
(21:04):
in A side note around this part, and I haven't decided if I'm angry
or I'm trying, or if thisshould be more comedic to me than it
actually is. But by this pointin the film, they're calling Toshiro played
by toksaka Gucci Jackie as in Jackiechan like. They keep like there's some
(21:27):
walkie talkie communication between talk after hepicks it a Toshiro, the character rather
picks it up from one of thefallen Yakuza henchmen, and he's talking to
one of the bosses and they andthey keep calling him Jackie. On the
one hand, I really don't.I hope you're not making fun of Jackie
(21:48):
Chan, cause that boy, inhis heyday is one of the craziest motherfuckers
to have ever lived. So thiswhole like, oh, maybe Jackie doesn't
know how to you actually fight,and he's you know, trained by the
Chinese ballet and blah blah blah.Jump off a fucking building like Jackie does,
(22:11):
jump jump into a fucking pillar oflights and slide down the light.
This I'm not saying that Taksaka Gujiisn't more of a killer than Jackie Chan.
I don't know that. I likeyou making fun. Now, if
I were to talk to the filmmakersand they were like, no, we
weren't making fun. It's an homageto Jackie. We fucking love Jackie Chan.
(22:32):
And it's like, well, byabout the fifth time that it's fucking
mentioned, you start to wonder,You start to wonder if I kid you.
Note I looked over at my chickat one point, I was like,
do these people have beef with JackieChan? Because this isn't funny anymore.
And you know, maybe I'm sucha Jackie Chan homer that I was.
I was taking it a little tooserious, But I don't know,
(22:56):
Gang, you be the judge andfucking dm me and tell me what you
think. Anyway, in the previousfight within the stairwells of the factory,
he confiscated a flashlight, so asthe next fight scene ensues, the flashlight
(23:17):
makes an appearance and taksaka Gucci usesit in a way that makes it now
hear me. I'm not going tosay I'm an expert on everything or on
anything anything. I'm not an experton anything, but I have seen quite
a few action films in my day. What happens next might be one of
(23:40):
the most creative fight scenes I canthink of in recent memory. Gang,
I know, and for those ofyou who listen to the show or it
can just know me in real life, doesn't that just make you want to
go out and get one percenter rightnow? Cause if you know, if
I'm saying one of the most creatornative fights in recent memory, it's got
(24:02):
to be good, and it isthe way that tak is able to keep
the same tone that he has previously, and by tone, I just mean
that subtle, sharp, clean.We don't start to go off the rails
as the film goes on, asa lot of action films do. We
just eventually just kind of shit thebed and then it becomes about car chases
and explosions and people getting tossed offfucking buildings and shit like that. The
(24:27):
way that he is able to keepthis tone or the tone that he's already
set previously in the prior scenes withthis flashlight, and how he uses it
to his advantage to take out aboutfifteen fucking Yakuza members. Oh, Chef's
kiss, Chef's fucking kiss. It'snothing short of amazing. I mean,
(24:51):
if you're an action film fan,it's probably something you've never seen before.
And from a filmmaking aspect, thechoice for Yu Dai Yamagu to use traditional
action music, you know what I'mtalking about. You know exactly what I'm
talking about, using traditional action musicat the start of the well, let's
(25:11):
just call it the flashlight fight,at the start of the flashlight fight,
to what he chooses towards the endwith a classical composer, almost as if
he's making music, he is doinga fight dance, which is kind of
funny because he hates when Toshiro's charactertoaksaka Gucci's character. Toshiro hates when action
(25:36):
films look like dances. They shouldlook real, they should look violent.
But in this sequence we go from, like I said, traditional action music
to a very classical music piece.Oh, it fits so good. The
editing here is so good. LikeI I literally and this is the first
(25:57):
time, the first time I waswatching it, because now I've watched it
two or three times I can't remember. But the first time watching I even
was like I leaned over my chick. I'm like, hey, I'm sorry.
I have to rewind that and watchit again. It was that good.
And most of the time I don'tdo that through first run throughs on
a film. I like it.I don't like ruining momentum. I hate
(26:17):
pausing, stopping, starting, allthat other shit. I actually rewound it
and watched it again my first runthrough, which is a sacrilege thing to
do for me, at least ifyou know me, you know I don't
do that thing, So you knowthat's how goddamn good. That fucking fight
sequence was like I just I wasjust like, oh, oh my god,
(26:38):
oh oh come And anyway, beforewe get to our final action piece,
I would like one of our finalaction pieces, I do want to
say after the flashlight fight. Somewherein between the flashlight fight and the final
action sequence, there is a Thereis two great pieces of acting by the
(27:02):
females involved in this one. They'reboth daughters of Yakuza. One's good,
one's bad. And I got totell you, the bad one just puts
on a clinic and so does thegood one. You have this pull between
good and evil that up until thatpoint we weren't getting like we were kind
of getting hammy acting, whether itbe from the crew who tells Tashiro that
(27:25):
he's shit basically, or some ofthe Yakuza prior, like it plays like
an action film, but in thisone then it gets like deadly serious for
a moment, and I just wantedto make sure to shout out both those
actresses because I was like, damn, dude, this we got dark in
a hurry, Like this was veryvery lighthearted for the most part, like
(27:49):
you're just kind of like, oh, this guy really wants to shoot his
fucking action film, and he wantsto do it real. And now we're
invested in these two girls that arecaught up in a yarn that they don't
want to be in. One wasbone into it, molded by it,
and the others said, no,fuck that. I don't want to be
a part of my dad's business thatends in fucking jail or death. So
no, anyway, shout out tothem too. Now comes their final fight
(28:12):
sequence between Taksaka Guji and Togo Ishi. Holy man, holy shit, so
good. It's amongst some of thecleanest, most downplayed action sequences you will
ever see. And technically, froma technical aspect, it's firing on all
cylinders. The camera work, thesound design, and of course the choreography
(28:36):
that takes place throughout this nothing shortof spectacular. I love anytime we can
mix it up and we just kindof use little things that perhaps break down
another fighter. No spoilers here,but just little shit. I don't need
(28:56):
a fucking crescendo of music when we'vedisarmed the final villain or anything like that.
I just need. Hey, weacknowledge that the fight is about to
take a turn, and then wejust fucking do it. Oh, Gang,
please go get this movie right nowif you can stream it on high
(29:18):
Yeah, stream stream it wherever youwant, or get the Blu Ray.
I will be doing a Blu Raygiveaway for this one. Well Go Usay's
release of One Percenter is out now. Again, Well Go USA's release of
One Percenter is out now. Noexcuses, Gang, if you've been following
me from the jump, it's oneof the best action films I've seen in
(29:41):
years. I would put it upthere top fifty if we're talking, let's
say, just in the last decade, top fifty, just based solely on
its execution. At the end ofthe day, the story is what it
is, you don't it's it's ararity when you get a good combination of
story and action choreograph. And it'snot to say that this story is shit.
(30:02):
Like I said, wait till theending where you can kind of choose
your own adventure in terms of what'sgoing on into Shiro's head. But it's
one of my favorites in the pastdecade, and it's a testament to its
execution and it being like a realfight. You know, when when you
hit somebody in a real fight,it doesn't fucking reverberate off the fucking walls
(30:26):
in which you're fighting in. Itis a very just I can't do it.
I'm fucking I got a microphone,but I was about ready to try
to shook you what a punch reallysounds like? Anyway? One Percenter is
available now is available now by wellGo USA. One Percenter starring Taksaka Guchi,
(30:47):
Togo Ishi, show A Yogi isSuchi a taile Rumakafukuda, Kaizuke Horibe,
Kenjiro Ishimaru, oh He Hero norHe's hiro Numa, Taro Saruga,
Kohai Fukiyama can in Harumi. Cinematographyby hiro Yuki Ozawa, and of course
(31:12):
that stunt direction and action direction byken Zuke Sonomura, written and directed by
yu Da Yamaguchi. Holy Cow,Taksaka Guchi can do no wrong. One
Percenter, well Go USA streaming andavailable now. No excuses, Gang.
(31:36):
All I can tell you is youguys are about to get so upset with
the amount of kung Fu movie episodesI'm about to release, and I don't
give a shit. Hell listen TomA week out
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