The Fable

I first watched the sequel and then this. Both are kind of similar, although the sequel felt a little more grounded. Great action scenes, all actors do a great job, even the stupid faced Yakuza types that normally just bug out their eyes and jut their chins and shout rude slang, in this film they have a personality and act with care for their characters. As others noticed, it is a film threading a fine line between comedy and dark action, which doesn't always work, but mostly does.

In fact, the film feels really inconsistent: good acting in a manga adaption, forced sex trafficking followed by comedy, great action scenes in a rather unentertaining story, although not a formulaic one, deeper levels of characterization in a movie about an autistic assassin. Worth a watch.

The Fable is a film that shouldn't work. An action-comedy based on a successful Manga series, it revolves around Akira Sato (Jun'ichi Okada), a hitman who finds himself on an unexpected holiday after his latest job. Ordered to lie low, his boss gives him strict instructions not to kill anyone for a year and try his best to live a normal life. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done with two rival assassins looking to take him out, not to mention an ambitious young gangster attempting to start a gang war. It's also not helped by the fact Sato had an...unconventional upbringing at best and isn't really sure how to behave around regular people.

The end result is a film that's very silly, delighting in scenes of a stone-faced killer struggling to socialise with his new co-workers and avoid blowing his cover. Okada's deadpan performance is great, watching him work out how to eat fish in public and delighting in the antics of a childish comedian raises a few laughs and the film is consistently entertaining.

The comedy however is noticeably at odds with the violence. The opening gun battle is a blood-splattered introduction and there's a fast-paced brawl in a factory towards the end which is wildly impressive. The psychotic villains and references to sex trafficking also mean The Fable is only a whisker away from being a very dark film indeed. Sato's social awkwardness is endearing, but when he's blowing holes in torsos and gunning down gangsters en masse, he's borderline inhuman.

The two styles shouldn't mesh but strangely, they do. The Fable winds up being surprisingly enjoyable. It isn't as funny as it wants to be and it definitely handles the action better than the comedy, but for a good seventy percent of the run time, it's a blast.

This movie reminds me a lot of the comic City Hunter. Although, this movie is comical comedic, the actions are not. They are very well choreographed.

Recommended for comedy and action fans.

Now, I am going for the part two. Hope it is as good.

The Fable has some really nice shots throughout the film as the central character, a professional assassin, goes on a hideout to live a normal life for a few months but is unable to and is instead driven to a world of crime again to save the lives of people he's not related with, but this time without killing a single soul. It is surprisingly funny, has a lot of action sequences, and is solidly clever in some parts, making it a fabulous experience for me. TN.

(Watched and reviewed at its India premiere at the 3rd Japanese Film Festival of India in Mumbai.)

Deliciously funny, action packed flick with comments on what's considered relevant I'm social behavior. Sarcastic and very efficient!