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Giri/Haji (2019)

2019 · Crime,Drama,Mystery · mob-organized-crime, crime-procedural, family-relational

Giri/Haji poster

Giri/Haji is a visually inventive, tonally layered Anglo-Japanese crime drama following a Tokyo detective sent to London to find his fugitive brother — a former Yakuza member — before a gang war escalates. It blends procedural crime, family tragedy, Yakuza mythology, dark humor, and moments of genuine tenderness across eight episodes, deploying formal flourishes (aspect-ratio shifts, anime inserts, a ballet sequence) that signal directorial confidence rather than gimmickry. It rewards patient, attentive viewers who prize craft over formula, and its bilingual, bicultural texture makes it a rare genuine East-West fusion rather than a genre pastiche. Audience reception is rapturous among those who found it, with frequent 'best show I've seen' declarations.

From the reviewers

Part family drama, part police procedural, part Yakuza film, the movie flips between London and Tokyo during a Japanese gang war. Strange as it may seem, the various filmic elements hold together beautifully, whether changes in screen dimension to denote time shifts; brief uses of anime; and a lovely ballet sequence.
It is bloody, violent, tender, exciting, and contemplative. Something for everyone.
Loved Will Sharpe who made Rodney a standout but equally compelling were Takehiro Hira, Yosuke Kubozuka and Aoi Okuyama. Great to see new people on screen.
It's not often I can see the perfection of direction but everything about this show was superb. Hays off to Julian Farino.
The cinematography and production values are off the scale, I doubt a more visually amazing masterpiece has ever been made.

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