समाचार

In the 15 years since his debut feature, Yu Irie has continued to thrive in the Japanese film industry’s indie scene. The sleeper hit that was “8000 Miles” saw the director win a couple of awards that have helped him bolster his filmography over the past decade. Having notably helmed the Tatsuya Fujiwara starring “Memoirs of a Murderer” in 2017 and worked sporadically in television, Irie brings to New York Asian Film Festival his seventeenth feature film, “Ninja Girl”.

The film, both written and directed by Irie, is a wicked black comedy, satire that asks the question, what would a ninja look like in the modern-day? While the answers often lead to hilarious results, Irie’s message is deeper than one might first think, as the film also tackles prevalent issues such as immigration and government corruption. The director took the time to discuss the film with us and let us in...

When one thinks of a ninja, acrobatics, shuriken stars, and rooftop runaways are just a few things that typically come to mind. However, none of these are to be found in Yu Irie’s simply titled “Ninja Girl”. What’s instead on offer is a wicked satire that’s beautifully shot and manages to strike a perfect balance between dark humour and a heartfelt, character-driven narrative.

“Ninja Girl” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival

Miu (Saki Fukuda) is a shy civil servant who takes care of her dying grandpa (Shohei Uno.) in their small home. Thanks to her grandpa’s fierce opposition to the so-called Immigration Elimination Act, Miu comes under scrutiny in an already intolerable workplace. Things take a darker turn still when a family friend, Koji (Arata Iura), commits suicide, having aided the mayor in fraudulence to help push through the act. However, Miu finds that...

Year: 2009

DVD Release date: Unknown

Directors: Takashi Miike

Writers: Tatsuo Yoshida

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: Bob Doto

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Manhattan is a city of numbered blocks divided into streets and avenues. Streets are short. They take one minute to traverse. Avenues are long. They take four minutes of "Are we still only at 6th?" to traverse. So, when I walked down 57th St. approaching the Director’s Guild Theater for the World Premiere of Takashi Miike’s much anticipated film Yatterman and came upon an entire avenue of people cued up, I was walking passed four minutes worth of people! That was an hour-and-half before the doors even opened. By the time 8pm rolled around there could’ve been ten minutes of people for all I knew. I didn’t know. I’m press, so, ‘scuse me, pardon me. I have a ticket. I go in first.