L'inspectrice des impôts

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.

Overall I really enjoyed this film, though it's no "Tampopo". This is a well-crafted flick from Itami, and I'm certainly glad I watched it, though if you are uninitiated with Itami's work I wouldn't start here. This is a fun, twisting dramedy with a few true laugh out loud moments; come for the charm, stay for the feel good story.

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.

I watched this movie with a friend from Japan who had a very high opinion it. I must say it was helpful to have her watching the movie with us (in our college dorm), however, because she explained a number of things about Japanese tax code and evasion as well as the Japanese mafia that made the plot (and politics) of the story much easier to follow. Aside from potential confusion in that area, I must say that I enjoyed the movie. Yes, there is sex, suspense, and the mafia, but don't expect it to flow like a mindless crime thriller (read: it isn't mindless, and it isn't non-stop action). It is about a tax woman, after all--the only woman amongst her coworkers. The characters are interesting and the story keeps you thinking. A smart movie with a few things to say along the way. Overall, I thought it was a good, but not great, movie. However, if you like this genre in general, you might enjoy it more than I did.

She'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 'Saturday Night Live' 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 Gondo's teenage son, comes to mind) seasoned with a touch of the traditional theater and a little zesty porn, well mixed.

The result is interesting and a little jarring.

I 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 Hakura'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.

Aside from getting a little soapy at the end, this is fine flick, sly and amusing.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)