MINBO--OR THE GENTLE ART OF JAPANESE EXTORTION
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 7.0
U.S. Availability: widely variable Running Length: 2:03 MPAA Classification: Not Rated (Violence, nudity, profanity)
Starring: Nobuko Miyamoto, Akira Takarada, Yasuo Daichi, Takehiro Murata,
Hideji Otaki
Director: Juzo Itami
Producer: Yasushi Tamaoki
Screenplay: Juzo Itami
Cinematography: Yonezo Maeda
Music: Toshiyuki Honda
Released by Northern Arts Entertainment
In Japanese with English subtitles
As portrayed in MINBO--OR THE GENTLE ART OF JAPANESE EXTORTION, gangsters, or yakuza, as they're called, come across as real-life versions of Popeye's arch-rival Bluto. They bluster, they shout, they turn red in the face, and they cut off their own fingers, but they never actually harm, or even blatantly threaten, a "citizen." That's because the punishment for getting caught doing either is a jail sentence, and Japanese gangsters don't want to go to jail. So, instead of obvious and brutal types of intimidation, they try something called minbo--extorting money through fear. They figure that if they shout at a person long and loud enough, the victim will eventually give in and pay up.
I'm not in a position to evaluate the cultural accuracy of MINBO's portrayal of the mob and its role in Japanese society, but the real-world yakuza apparently didn't appreciate it--after the Japanese premiere of MINBO in 1992, director Juzo Itami (TAMPOPO) was stabbed. Thankfully, the wound wasn't fatal. Itami has since recovered, but the ordeal has strengthened his resolve to speak out against gangsters.
Most of the film centers around events at the Europa, an upscale Tokyo hotel that is adding a wing in hopes of attracting international conventions. The general manager, Kobayashi (Akira Takarada), is informed that although his facilities are exemplary, he has an image problem--the yakuza have made his lobby a hangout. Until they, with their veiled threats of violence, are gone, it's too dangerous to have heads of state staying at the Europa.
Kobayashi takes action, creating an "anti-yakuza" strike force of two: a meek accountant named Suzuki (Yasuo Daichi) and his inept sidekick, bellboy Wakasugi (Takehiro Murata). Together, armed with no courage, no budget, and an imposing charter--get rid of the yakuza--the pair embarks on a campaign to free the Europa from the scourge of the mob. It doesn't take long before they've paid out over $70,000 in extortion money with little in the way of results to show for it. Kobayashi, suitably dismayed by their lack of progress, brings in a minbo specialist, lawyer Mahiru Inoue (Nobuko Miyamoto), to help the bumbling Suzuki. She proves her worth almost immediately, giving a crash course in yakuza tactics, then ably handling the first crisis to come her way.
MINBO is at its best chronicling the moves and countermoves of the almost-gamelike war between the various mobsters and the anti-yakuza trio at the Europa. Many of these are presented in a lighthearted, cartoonish fashion, and are played mostly for laughs. Suzuki and Wakasugi are the picture of nervous incompetence, and it's a riot to see tiny Inoue run roughshod over a gang of tattooed bullies. Elements of MINBO's comedy are almost classic.
Unfortunately, the film isn't content with satire. The last twenty minutes are unnecessarily grim and contrived, including one scene of such embarrassing overacting (by Murata) that it should have been excised from the final print. There's an-impossible-to-miss moral ("It is better to die for your beliefs than live as a coward.") and a Hollywood-type climax. MINBO's final act is so at variance with the rest of the film in tone and content that it seems culled from an entirely different picture.
Despite its failings, however, MINBO is still enjoyable, as much for the sprightly performance of Nobuko Miyamoto (as Inoue) as for its tongue-in-cheek look at the Japanese mob. It's a difficult task to fashion comedy from such unpleasant material, no matter how ripe the target is for parody. Itami does a credible job, though, using the opportunity not only to skewer the yakuza, but to take a jab or two at Japanese society as a whole, and especially the woman's role in it. Because of limited and sporadic distribution, prints of MINBO will not be easy to locate, but when one becomes available, the film is certainly worth a look. You could do worse--much worse--at any local multiplex.
- James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
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