Die Steuerfahnderin (1987)
33KDie Steuerfahnderin: Directed by Jûzô Itami. With Nobuko Miyamoto, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Masahiko Tsugawa, Yasuo Daichi. If tax evasion is an art, wheeler-dealer Hideki Gondo is Rembrandt. And so, a determined taxing woman gets the tough assignment of trying to catch him.
“Sheu0026#39;s rather memorable, this taxing woman. She has a face like a China doll all grown up with freckles around her eyes and a mat of thick dark hair on her head as though cut with the aid of a vegetable bowl. She is Nobuko Miyamoto, wife of the late and lamented director Juzo Itami, and a comedic star worthy of u0026#39;Saturday Night Liveu0026#39; in its better days. She plays Ryoke Hakura, tireless tax inspector hot on the trail of shady tax dodger Hideki Gondo, played with rakish self-indulgence by Tsutomi Yamazaki. Itami blends situation comedy with some soap opera angst (Japanese and American) to which he adds some ersatz action/adventure shtick (the chase scene near the end with Hakura legging it after Gondou0026#39;s teenage son, comes to mind) seasoned with a touch of the traditional theater and a little zesty porn, well mixed.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe result is interesting and a little jarring.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was most affected by the atmosphere of this strange and original comedy. I found myself looking at the backdrops and the sets and into the faces of all those very neat Japanese bureaucrats as I followed Ryoko Hakurau0026#39;s tireless pursuit of the missing yen. All that paper work and all those numbers! Interesting were the attitudes and presumptions of the characters in terms of sexuality and social status. We can see that in the modern Japan a woman must navigate her way carefully through the sea of men, while a man must achieve financial success to command respect. And yet there lingers still the flavor and the swagger of the samurai as seen in the scene where Gondo cuts his finger to write a bank account number in blood.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAside from getting a little soapy at the end, this is fine flick, sly and amusing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book u0026quot;Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Canu0026#39;t Believe I Swallowed the Remote!u0026quot; Get it at Amazon!)”
