Hailed as Japan’s “King of Cult,” director Teruo Ishii had an extremely prolific, eclectic career taking deep dives in sci-fi, horror, erotica, and black comedy, including an early journey through crime, most memorably his series of four “Line” films, including Black Line and Yellow Line, both from 1960. Often credited with discovering and making Ken Takakura a movie  star, Ishii directed the actor in several films, including Narazumono (US: An Outlaw), the story of a Japanese paid assassin named Minami (Takakura) who makes a hit in Hong Kong that ends up a disaster: not only does the victim turn out to have been a top cop but Minami’s greeted by the corpse of the hit’s daughter when he shows up for payment. This launches Minami on an expedition through Kowloon, Yokohama, and Macau to track down the client who manipulated (and jilted) him, which leads him through prostitution rings, drug dens, casinos, and slums, more corpses piling up along the way. Takakura plays Minami as fully human and complicated, as comfortable brutally beating a hotel madam to a pulp as he is sucking the blood out of disease-stricken lungs to save a prostitute’s life (a cringe-inducing scene). Ishii goes all the way with violence, the fist fights tightly choreographed, each landed punch another nudge toward death. Yagi’s jazz score cools down the atmosphere, while cinematographer Hayashi appears to be having a ball with obtuse angles, deep focus, and framing techniques.