No.71 : Wasabi (2001)

Wasabi at the IMDb

Jean Reno plays super cop Hubert Fiorintini in this Japanese/French comedy thriller written by Luc Besson.

Hubert is a kick ass style of police man and his carefree style puts him at loggerheads with the Chief, especially when the Chief’s son gets a kicking during one of Hubert’s raids. When his efforts to apologise to the boy results in his being electrocuted Hubert is told to take a couple of months of overdue leave. The timing of course is perfect as he soon learns that his lost love has died in Japan and he is the father of her daughter.

Hubert goes to Japan after a 19 year absence and hooks up with his former partner, Momo, who keeps him fully armed and informed. Hubert meets the girl but hides his identity as her father, as her mother spoke badly of him. We quickly learn that the woman was in fact murdered and has left the girl $200 million which she’ll collect on her 20th birthday in 2 days. Mum it seems was working undercover for the police and had to sever links with Hubert to preserve her identity.

The money was pilfered from the Yakuza and they are keen to collect. What follows are several elaborate shootouts interspersed with some buddy cop moments and culture clashes. Can Hubert reconcile his relationship with his newly found daughter and ease his own overdraft at the same time?

This is a strange film. It looks like it has been shot in French but has been dubbed by the crew at ‘Eurotrash‘. The dubbing is so funny it has to be a deliberate move to make the film seem more eccentric and wacky. Reno appears to have done his own English translation but the rest of the cast sound like leftovers from a 1970s kung-fu flick. Once you get over the voices, which are a bit distracting, there is a lot to like. The film is similar in style to the ‘Rush Hour’ series with lots of gun play but no blood and little danger to the leads.

The culture clash gags are well done and Tokyo looked great. There are funny scenes in the shops and especially in the amusement arcade where Reno shows his dance moves before playing the video shoot out game for real. The bad guys are cut out villains with black suits and sun glasses and I don’t think they get one bullet on target in the whole film.

The detection angle was very slight with barely a breath caught between each puzzle and its solution, but the fast paced action more than made up for that. Overall I enjoyed the film with the action set pieces such as the driving range fight well executed and pretty funny to boot.

I hadn’t heard of this film before despite its great pedigree, and if you fancy a bit of action and a few laughs you could do a lot worse than ‘Wasabi’.

Best Bit : Driving range fight


‘W’ Score 17/23

No.49 : Woman in the Dunes (Suna no onna) (1964)

Woman in the Dunes at the IMDb

This 1964, black and white film in Japanese may not be everyone’s cup of sake but it is well worth a look, and certainly something different.

A Japanese bug collector decides to spend his three day holiday scouring the sand dunes of a remote area in the hope of going fame as the discoverer of a new species. Big mistake! When he misses his last bus home some friendly villagers suggest he stays over with them. He is slightly surprised when he is ushered down a rope ladder in the dark, and even more so when the ladder is gone next morning.

He finds that he has been left in a shack, in a big hole, in the desert with only a naked widow for company. Sounds like a good deal? Not really when you find she’s a bit mental and that you have to dig sand for food. The man initially tries to escape, using some elaborate ruses and eventually gets free only to fall into quicksand and be recaptured. The villagers believe that if the shack gets swallowed by the desert they‘ll be next, and they also have a sideline in selling the sand to construction companies, despite its inferior quality.

After a while Mr Bug succumbs to his situation and begins to mine sand and plough the woman. When he sets a trap for a crow, so that he can use it to send a message, he inadvertently finds a way to gather water - can this discovery help the villagers in their plight?

When the woman falls pregnant the rope ladder is left by the villagers who have taken her to a doctor. Will our man escape or has he become institutionalised?

The premise here is ripe for nit picking but to do so would be missing the point. Of course the idea of living in a shack in a hole in the dunes is ludicrous, as is mining sand when you live in a desert. I won’t go into the metaphors employed, but basically you have a man in a desperate situation having to carry out pointless tasks. The sand itself is relentless like time and the man has to make the best of his bad lot. Basically if you are married and in a job you’ll appreciate what’s going on!

The film is really hypnotic, with dialogue sparse and a jangly soundtrack that fills in the blanks. The sand is of course a major player and it is shot so well and so differently that you feel that it is a character in its own right. The man’s plight is so frustrating and ultimately pointless that you can’t help but be drawn in.

I’m not a great follower of Japanese B&W cinema but this one was great. The whole thing is so evocative and moving that it’ll stay with you for years - a bit like getting sand in your trainers after a day at the beach.

Best Bit : Ladder quandary - should he stay or should he go?

‘W’ Score 18/23