★★½
“Just when you think you’re out…”
Yuri Ozone (Ayase) was once one of the most feared assassins in all of Japan, before she vanished off the grid around 1914. A decade later, she is quietly running a brothel. As you do, I guess. Anyway, Shinta Hosomi (Hamura) is a young man, who can only watch as the rest of his family is ruthlessly slaughtered by a party seeking… something. However, he was told in the event of such an incident, to see out Yuri and she would help him. Naturally, this drags her back out of “retirement” – quotes used, since she’s not exactly of pensionable age – and into the middle of a battle between different section of the Japanese military, with war looming on the horizon.
Fortunately, she has some assistance, in the form of Yoshiaki Iwami (Hasegawa). He’s a lawyer, and all round fixer, who is able to help provide Yuri with the information she needs to be able to survive. It turns out that Shinta is in possession of very valuable documents, which are the key to unlocking a large sum embezzled away in government funds. However, it turns out that these are only part of the matter, because whoever has these also needs pass-codes to access the funds, which are held entirely separately. If this all seems quite messy, and perhaps also not dissimilar to The Three Faces of Gloria… Yeah, I would say you are probably right there. With added coincidence, such as Yuri just so happening to find herself on the same train as Shinta.
What works here in particular is the period atmosphere. It’s clear there was a lot of money spent on the production, with the mid-twenties era being lavishly recreated, in costumes, transport and decor. The action in general isn’t bad, with Ayase knowing her way around a fight sequence, though her enemies are strictly from the Imperial Stormtrooper school of firearm training. Even at close range, they are always too slow, too inaccurate, or both, to the extent their incompetence almost begins to feel like a running joke. But there are still some well-staged set pieces, such as one which unfolds in thick fog, giving an otherworldly, and almost ghostly feel to proceedings.
Unfortunately, the film managed to lose my attention entirely in the middle section. With a running-time of 139 minutes, I felt there was a severe lack of focus in the central narrative, with too much attention on various political shenanigans i.e. Army vs. Navy, and secondary characters. I also found the obvious pacifist messaging rather trite, and somewhat ironic given both the copious amounts of violence on show, as well as the actual actions of Japan during the following decade, such as their invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Outside of the period setting, I had a strong sense overall of having been here before. While the action was decent, given the overall length, it seemed spread too thin to, alone, justify the movie’s existence.
Dir: Isao Yukisada
Star: Haruka Ayase, Hiroki Hasegawa, Jinsei Hamura, Kavka Shishido