Marutai leaves viewers wishing that it wasn't Juzo Itami's final film (Film reviewer)

I 

I hope I'll (still) be in Hong Kong when the 48th Hong Kong 

International Film Festival comes around, and enjoy it

as much as I have the 47th edition of the fest! 

 

Marutai (Japan, 1997)

- Juzo Itami, director and scriptwriter

- Starring: Nobuko Miyamoto, Masahiko Nishimura, Yuji Murata

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's The Complete Juzo Itami Directorial Retrospective program

 

In light of Juzo Itami being the filmmaker whose works I viewed the most at the 2023 Hong Kong International Film Festival (with my having also viewed his A Taxing Woman's Return, A-Ge-Man -- Tales of the Golden Geisha, The Last Dance and Supermarket Woman at the fest), it seemed fitting that the late director-actor's final film was the movie that brought this year's HKIFF-ing to a close for me.  Happily, this was another entertaining offering from the Japanese auteur -- with his wife and lead actress, Nobuko Miyamoto, among the cast who did him proud.

 

Drawing upon, and referencing, both his own experience of witness protection and the news-headlining activities of the Aum Shinrikyo cult (which culminated in a deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 -- two years before this film's release), Marutai centres on Isono Biwoko (portrayed by Nobuko Miyamoto), an acting diva who is put under police protection after she witnesses a lawyer's murder by religious fanatics.  You'd think that these subjects would be suited for a serious work but Juzo Itami's made a film addressing them that actually offers up a lot of laughs as well as shocks, scares and food for thought.  

 

The puppy dog-like Detective Chikamatsu (played by Yuji Murata) and far more serious and intense Detective Tachibana (essayed by Masahiko Nishimura) are assigned to stick closely to Isono -- but the stubborn and self-centered actress is determined that their doing so will neither cramp her style nor limit her activities.  These don't only involve her carrying on acting in movies and also on stage but also taking classes in traditional Japanese dance (with scenes bringing back memories of the geisha training in A-Ge-Man!) and more, and going out for dinner at establishments that include her favourite Chinese restaurant.  Oh, and there's the secret affair that she's conducting with a married entertainment bigwig (who comes in the form of Masahiko Tsugawa) too! 

 

Some of Marutai's comedy comes in the form of such as Detective Chikamatsu being clearly star-struck by Isono but nothing quite beats seeing Detective Tachibana becoming in an extra in a stage production of Cleopatra which has Isono appearing as the Queen of Ancient Egypt dressed in a costume that makes it look like her breasts have been exposed!  Further wacky shenanigans come by way of a subplot involving yet another detective with a quirky personality: this one being a gourmet who's too high brow for his boss' liking, and is consequently asked to go to a karaoke bar!  

 

But although that strand of the movie initially feels like it came out of nowhere, there soon is shown to be reason for its inclusion in Marutai: a movie that is brimful of ideas and never feels like it's overstayed its welcome despite its 132 minute running time making it a lengthier cinematic offering than normal. An entertaining work that's life-affirming even though it does contain violent deaths, it left this viewer ruing that Juzo Itami's life and career ended up being cut short; with the filmmaker having died -- with it widely being believed that he was killed by Yakuza -- less than three months after this film was released in Japanese cinemas.

 

My rating for this film: 8.0