MRS. Wantanabe has a prob lem. Her 20-year-old son, Naoki, is a jobless troublemaker who spends most of his time vegging out at home.
Hoping to give the pockmarked youth a purpose in life, she arranges for him to serve a one-year apprenticeship with the Japanese version of the Mafia.
“Young Yakuza,” a documentary by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Limosin, follows Naoki’s life as a junior mobster. If you’re expecting a real-life version of a bloody Takashi Miike movie, forget it.
Naoki’s job entails learning how to bow and serve tea to the boss, and other mundane projects.
The film is best seen for its rare inside look at the day-in, day-out workings of the Japanese mob. If it’s blood and guts you want, rent Miike’s 1999 “Dead or Alive.”
In Japanese, with English subtitles. Running time: 90 minutes. Not rated (mature themes). At the Imaginasian, 59th Street, between Second and Third avenues.