Samurai and Japanese Movies DVD Store : Juzo Itami - MINBO: The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (1992)

Minbō no Onna - Nominated for 9 Japanese Academy Awards - OK, here's the film that so burned the yakuza like the hottest piece of tempura that they slashed Director Juzo Itami's face. It's also been suggested that Itami didn't commit suicide in 1998 but was actually murdered by the yakuza. With this film, I'm not surprised if they did.

Our story begins as a grand old Japanese hotel is trying to get a prestigious contract as the site for a summit meeting of important foreign officials. Unfortunately, this hotel is quite popular with the Yakuza and is a favorite target of theirs for extortion. They employ a variety of schemes to con the hotel out of 'hush-money.'

The hotel needs to rid itself of the Yakuza and finally begins to fight back by hiring Mahiru Inoue, a lawyer who is an expert at dealing with these criminals on their own terms. This film by Juzo Itami combines action with farce, as an all-out war ensues.

Shortly after the release of this movie, the director, Juzo Itami was attacked, beaten, and slashed by five members of the Goto-gumi, a Tokyo yakuza gang, who were angry at his portrayal of yakuza as bullies and thugs in this film. This attack led to a government crackdown on the yakuza.

Stars: YASUO DAICHI, NOBUKO MIYAMOTO, NOBORU MITANI

1992 - JAPANESE with OPTIONAL ENGLISH SUBTITLES - COLOR - 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN - 123 MINUTES

If you like this, you might also be interested in... Tales of a Golden Geisha

Destination: United States