The Japanese film Isolated, which screened Sunday at Big Bad Film Fest, is a relentless yakuza action film that remains focused as it builds exponential challenges for its hero.
Isolated throws the audience right into the action. It explains the plot along the way in flashbacks but keeps it simple.
Tamura and Renji suspect the Chinese mafia was involved in a hit before a masked gang abducts Renji. The identity of the actual kidnapper is only shown once Tamura makes his way to him.
The setting in the factory is reminiscent of Bruce Lee's original plan for Game of Death, the movie he was working on at the time of his death. That film would have involved Lee fighting his way up a tower of different antagonists.
Another martial arts movie reminiscent of Lee's plans for ascending levels of fighters is Man of Tai Chi, directed by and starring Keanu Reeves. Isolated is even more literal, as the factory is a contained location with different rooms and levels where various fighters wait for Tamura.It is also suggestive of The Raid, a film in which police were trapped in a building populated by a mobster's gang. All of the characters in The Raid practiced the same style of Silat martial arts, though, while the styles vary in Isolated.
Tamura uses guns at first but quickly runs out of bullets and turns to swords. He picks up weapons from various opponents along the way, including pipes and shards of broken glass.
Tamura does not practice a graceful martial arts style. He fights off opponents with brute force, for which Renji pays him.
Director Hiroyuki Tsuji films the factory action scenes in black and white, and sets the flashbacks in color. It is an interesting distinction that separates the timelines clearly.
Most impressively, action director Koichi Sakamoto said they filmed the entire movie in 10 days. The single location enabled them to work continuously, and in that week and a half they produced fights that showcase the performers and distinguish themselves from other fights in the same film.
A lot of Hollywood movies use filler when they can't deliver all of the action they promised. Isolated fulfills the action it promised when Tamura first entered the factory.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
