Marutai no onna

Read else where on IMDB director committed suicide the same year as this came out, leaving a suicide note behind suggesting the media was going to uncover an affair with a younger woman, so he was deciding to take himself out.

Ironically that is part of the story in this movie, and revolves around his real wife Nobuko Miyamoto who is playing the lead part. In that light, it is very difficult to believe this story.

As he had been attacked and threatened by yakuza a few years earlier because the content of his movies offended them, it doesn't stretch the imagination much to come to the conclusion he was murdered.

Makes you really angry. Such a talent and a very funny guy. His wife and him were an amazing team, and always brought so much to their productions, bring the best out in other cast members too. His earlier movie Taxing Woman has a special place in my heart.

Marutai is a slang used by the Japanese police indicating either a criminal or a witness that needs constant surveillance or protection. It's obviously related to Marusa of Marusa no Onnna which was also a movie made by Jyuzo Itami.

One day in the dark, actress Biwako (Nobuko Miyamoto) witnesses a murder. She becomes an unwitting witness of the crime and police asks her to be the lead witness in the trial. The gangs who sent the assassin sends their lawyer Nihonmatsu (Toru Emori) to bribe Biwako so she wouldn't take the stand. Biwako refuses, and the gangs are now out to kill Biwako before the trial.

The movie is comedic and serious at the same time like all other Itami's movies. Biwako gets into lot of trouble just because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Her life is threatened, but she has two police officers who are willing to stake their own lives to protect her. It's a story of extraordinary things happening to the life of an ordinary person, but it might have more of Itami's personal message than his other movies, as explained below.

This was the last movie made by director Jyuzo Itami. His death is rumored to be a foul play by the gangs because Itami continued to shed lights into the inner workings of the Japanese underworld (as in his Minbo no Onna, and this movie). Making people's death seem like suicide is the favorite tactics employed by Japanese gangs, and it's reported that Itami had no reason to commit suicide by people who were close to him. Itami was attacked and stabbed by yakuza few years before this movie was made, so it's no news that he was under their radar. Itami might have been feeling the pressure which might have influenced him to make this movie. This movie might have been the last straw that tipped the scale. In any case, his loss to Asian cinema was great as he was one of the directors who continued to produce quality movies throughout the years.

Itami's widow Nobuko Miyamoto who is also the star of this movie created a museum in his name recently. We will miss Itami's humor and insight, as we will probably never see the likes of him again.

This film is a comedy laced with some drama and a little grit about an actress who witnesses a murder and is called upon to testify against the killer, who also assaulted her. She is a demanding primadonna and loves praise. Two officers are assigned to her, one who loves her work, one who never goes to films. She is threatened by the cult which the murderer is part of, so you wonder whether she is actually going to go through with it. There is action, drama but there is a terrific comic touch to it. This is not surprising, as director Juzo Itami showed often enough in films like "Minbo", "The Funeral" and "A Taxing Woman" that he was gifted in his approach to telling a story. Equally gifted actress Nobuko Miyamoto, who was Mr. Itami's wife, is just about perfect as the actress. She exhibits the right amount of histrionics, fear and comic intensity in her role. She is also a very attractive lady and is obviously relishing this portrayal. Sadly, this was their last film collaboration, as Mr. Itami committed suicide, but he left behind an impressive body of work, as Ms. Miyamoto still does. I highly recommend this film.

Itami's final film is not easy to locate outside of Japan, but Marutai no Onna (Woman in Witness Protection) is worth the extra effort. Miyamoto portrays a vain, shallow, middle-aged actress who witnesses a brutal murder and chooses to stand up to a deadly cult and its thoroughly slimy defense attorney. Realizing that the very public life of the woman makes their sole witness vulnerable to the killers, the police provide her with specially trained witness protection officers until the trial. In the interim, the lives of the actress and everyone surrounding her are changed in unexpected ways.

Masahiko Nishimura, familiar to fans of "Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald," plays an uptight police officer assigned to guard the unconventional witness. His transformation provides the funniest moments in the film. In a couple of brief scenes, Daisuke Ryu (Kagemusha, Ran, Gojoe) is sufficiently menacing as the cult's bad-ass leader. And Toru Emori creates a real bottom feeding defense lawyer, complete with the worst comb-over on the planet.

This isn't a brilliant or moving film, but Marutai is good entertainment, and it does suggest that it's never too late to become a better and/or more interesting person.