Most films about the yakuza depict its members as fully formed and distinctly different from the general run of humanity, somewhat like action figures just out of the box. The reality, as Hiroshi Shoji's "Ken and Kazu" shows us with a gritty directness and power, is more quotidian. For Shoji's title heroes, crime is less a way of proving their outlaw manliness than a risky means to an uncertain monetary end as they face a bleak future.