Suzuki called Kanto Wanderer "a straightforward yakuza film and nothing more," though even he admitted that it "contains 'ideas.'" But "idea" is an action word in this film, expressed in a breathtaking use of color, movement, and abrupt histrionics that the important critic Tadao Sato compared to Brecht. Moody matinee idol Akira Kobayashi, decked out in elaborate upper-body tatoos, a sword scar across one cheek, plays a gambling hall bouncer who renounces the gangster's code of honor, which forbids romance, for the love of a professional woman gambler. It's a classic conflict between giri (duty) and ninjo (humanity), in a script based on Taiko Hirabayashi (1905-1972), an important Japanese writer. But Suzuki's dazzling play with visual elements eclipses plot, raising obsession to the level of narrative.