Minbo or the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion

Minbo or the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion
Juzo Itami (Director)
123 minutes


Now, I had high hopes of doing movie reviews much more regularly... that, at least so far, has not come to fruition.

However, I do hope to provide a little guidance where possible towards so Japanese cinema, and here I have a perfect example.

I have seen a few of Itami's pictures and he has a style and pace that are something quite unique and immediately identifiable. There's a quickness to his writing, and, despite being comedies, his Yakuza are... well, the most Yakee I have ever seen on film. They roll their R's better than some real gansters I'm sure.

So, here we have the story of a hotel harassed by various gang members, or yakuza, who use various tricks to extort money out of businesses and people. Much of this movies works a bit like Matchstick Men or Grifters as it shows a behind the scenes step by step of the hustle. Actually the only thing that it does better than show the hustle is show the bust.

A female lawyer and yak specialist is hired to work her magic and though I wouldn't advise going out of your way to try and see if her tactics work in real situations, there is little doubt that a lot of her planning is based in real knowledge, and is so enjoyable, I won't go into details here, but just recommend you check out the movie.

One of the main reasons I watched this movie today, (and the reason I advise not playing any kind of game with a yakuza) is the story of Itami himself. If you are unfamiliar, within 6 days of the release of this film, a group of gangsters carved his face and roughed him up enough to let him know his portrayal of gangsters was not appreciate. I also like to think that this was done because it showed a bit too much of how the sausage was being made, and how it could be avoided as well.

Again, if you don't know, Itami didn't live to make too many more movies, and though his death has been considered a suicide (by jumping off a building from the sorrow of being revealed as an adulterer) it has been suggested that this was also the work of the yakuza, and since the whole mistress scam is one of the main parts of Minbo... it's easy to imagine that it may just be true.

Besides just overall fascination with Itami's tale, I happen to be in the middle of The Changeling by Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburo Oe, who happens to be Itami's good friend and brother-in-law. The story is a thinly veiled attempt by Oe to face his brothers suicide (there appears to be no question in his mind) and I will have a review up in the next month or so. I will also likely be drawn to watch a few more of Itami's brilliant films... so, maybe... maybe... a few extra film reviews to come!