Pale Flower

In this gritty Tokyo crime drama, Muraki, Ryô Ikebe, is a hard‑boiled yakuza who has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for murdering a member of the Funada gang, only to discover that his own gang has merged with the Funada clan. At an illegal gambling parlor, he bets a large sum and loses to the mysterious Saeko Mariko Kaga, a young upper‑class thrill‑seeker. Later that night, he reconnects with Shinko Furuta Chisako Hara, his former lover.

The next day at a horse race, Muraki learns that the Yakuza have made peace with the Funada gang to counter an incursion by the Imai gang from Osaka, the Imai Kyū Sazanka gang. A week later, Saeko asks Muraki to take her somewhere she can play for higher stakes. A coworker from her office proposes marriage to Shinko, but she rejects him. She tells Muraki she still loves him, but he tells her to marry the coworker.

Muraki takes Saeko to a high‑stakes gambling den at Aikawa’s Inn Naoki Sugiura in Tsunamachi, Tokyo, where she wins another large sum of money. Muraki notices a man who sits in the corner staring at him. Muraki learns the man is Yoh, a heroin addict who fled Hong Kong after committing two murders. Muraki tells Saeko that he hates drug addicts, but Saeko is drawn to Yoh and the thrill of illegal drug use. With Muraki as a passenger, Saeko challenges another driver to a high‑speed drag race, and laughs in delight after it ends.

The gang leaders consider sending Muraki to kill the head of the Imai gang Kyū Sazanka from Osaka. After another night of high‑stakes gambling, Muraki is ambushed on the street by an unknown knife‑wielding assailant. Out of gambling money, Muraki goes days without seeing Saeko. He later tells his friend Reiji Shin’ichirô Mikami about a recurring nightmare in which Yoh gives Saeko a drug injection. Waking from the nightmare, he learns that Tamaki Koji Nakahara, a member of the Funada gang, has been killed by the Imai gang.

Reiji offers to avenge Tamaki’s death, but Funada Seiji Miyaguchi turns him down. Muraki volunteers to kill Imai, and Funada gives him all the time he needs to prepare, suggesting that he use a knife instead of a gun. At his apartment, Shinko demands to know about Saeko and threatens to stalk them. Muraki again encourages her to marry because he will be returning to prison soon. Shinko reveals a message from Saeko asking Muraki to meet her at their usual place. Muraki meets Saeko, and she tells him she experimented with heroin.

Angered, Muraki tells her to stop and offers a bigger thrill: to watch him kill a man. He takes her to the café where Imai is eating with friends and brutally stabs him to death in front of the patrons. Two years later, while imprisoned for the murder, Muraki is visited by his friend Jiro Isao Sasaki. Jiro tells him that Saeko was killed by Yoh in a crime of passion. Jiro says he discovered Saeko’s true identity, but Muraki is hastened back to his cell before Jiro can continue. Muraki reflects that her real identity doesn’t matter, and even in death he still hungers for her.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:02