L'inspectrice des impôts

This film will probably take many of the viewers by surprise. Apparently the tax system and the art of cheating on your taxes in Japan is something most Westerners might be surprised to see. Sure, MOST cultures have some people who try to avoid taxes--this is pretty much a given. But the lengths to which they go in Japan and the lengths the tax investigators go to catch them is truly amazing and makes this film so unusual.

The tax cheat in the film, Mr. Gondo, is a complex and unusual man. In some ways, he's a slimy man with little to like--owning a string of "love motels" (i.e., hotels where prostitutes go with their clients or couples commit adultery) and mistreating his mistresses pretty badly. But, oddly, through the course of the film, the viewer and the tax lady come to like him or at least recognize he isn't all bad. This is important because otherwise, the film would have been far less interesting. Also, the many, many, many bizarre ways of hiding cash and bank accounts was truly bizarre--with hidden rooms and account information hidden practically EVERYWHERE! The lady tax investigator, Ryoko Itakura, is amazing as well--sort of like a superhero with amazing deductive powers. She is both tenacious and brilliant but also obsessed to the point where she doesn't appear to have much purpose in life but her job. Again, this made for a fascinating woman, as later you saw bits and pieces of her life that led you to believe she is a real person with real likes and dislikes--and even a liking for Gondo.

All in all, this is one of the more unusual films I have seen--with a plot that is so unusual and a style that make it a standout film.

This film from director Juzo Itami, who also directed the excellent "The Funeral" is about Ryoko Itakura, a cute freckle faced bowl haircut style tax investigator. She tries innovative ways to separate people from their hidden earnings, which is, after all, her job. Nobuko Miyamoto, who plays Ryoko, is great, always looking like the only important thing is the job. When she gets promoted to Tax Inspector her job with her new colleagues is to investigate developer Hideko Gondo, played extremely well by Tsutomu Yamazaki, to find out how he is cheating on his taxes. Gondo is, of course, shrewd about hiding his money, so you're left to wonder whether they will succeed. This is essentially a comedy, with a little drama and a bit of erotica (not involving Ms. Miyamoto's character), and it does have some heart. It falls short of "The Funeral" in that the character development, aside from Ryoko and Gondo, is a little weaker. But, for its subject, it is never boring and it is entertaining. I'm sure these people in Japan are as zealous as they seem in this film. Enjoy, its well worth your time.

What a movie the japanese killed it , the music is unfortable and real life moments Another great film from Itami satirizing an aspect of modern Japanese society, this time, tax cheats.

My Ratings 9/10

Who would think a two-hour film (and subtitled for non-Japanese speaking viewers) about tax collectors could be interesting? This was, although nothing extraordinary.....just pretty entertaining with an interesting lead character and strange soundtrack.

I found Nobuko Miyamoro fascinating as the tax collector with all the freckles and the will to get the job done, no matter what it takes. It was interesting to discover how much the Japanese were taxed (at least when this movie was made) and what lengths they will go to cheat on their taxes!

The hot-tempered gangster had some funny lines, some naked breasts were seen here several times to keep things spiced up for the male audience. Generally, this was fun to watch. The constant jazz-type beat on the main song was cool for quite a while but got tiresome toward the end.

Japanese satirist Juzo Itami tackles yet another popular obsession in this often bitter comedy sure to strike a chord with any long-suffering taxpayer. The film lacks the playful free-form structure of his earlier 'Tampopo', but compensates with more of the same inflated, deadpan humor, diluted here by a cruel (but not incompatible) streak of anger no doubt reflecting the director's own relationship with the Japanese IRS. Itami's heroine is a plucky, incorruptible Internal Revenue agent (played by his own off-screen wife) involved in a high-tech, fast-paced game of cat-and-mouse with a ruthless, lecherous businessman trying to protect his illicit income by any means possible. Her single-minded pursuit of the Almighty Yen in the service of her government is no less compulsive than the creative tax-dodges of her money-hungry target, and the exaggerated methods of detection and evasion give the film an irresistible comic energy. The tempo doesn't really take off until the second hour, when the entire team of tax agents joins the chase, and their obsessive devotion to duty carries the film beyond the level of absurdity, transforming a colorless world of glorified accountants into an exciting, romantic adventure and showing just how shark-like the lure of money can be, on both sides of the law.