Q&A with dir. Oudai Kojima at the August 13 screening!

While some of the plot beats may seem familiar in this saga of an ex-yakuza fresh out of prison and trying to go straight, everything else about Joint transcends the ordinary. The protagonist’s ordeal deftly defies the predictable, especially in his brushes with the dark side; the cinematography, editing, and soundtrack are fresh and dynamic; and the milieu feels grippingly authentic and authoritative. As the ex-con is educated in the fundraising ways of small-time crooks, so too is the audience, and the lessons are riveting. First-time feature writer-director Oudai Kojima, who grew up in New York City—far from the Japanese criminal element—creates a compelling portrait of today’s underworld, with multi-ethnic characters who are scrambling to bridge physical, generational, and moral divides.