Sailor Suit and Machine Gun

From an outsider’s perspective Japanese pop culture seems to have an unhealthy obsession with teenage girls, skimpy outfits and the ‘ol ultraviolence.  But when you actually sit down and watch something like Sailor Suit and Machine Gun(1981), in which a high school girl inherits a run-down gang of yakuza, it’s surprising how the unseemly scenario actually plays out.  There’s an innocent undercurrent at work, a longing for family, acceptance and emotional connections that intermingles with the seedier exploitation elements.  

Orphaned after the death of her father, Izumi Hoshi is met at her school by a gang of yakuza thugs who inform her she’s next in line for the position of Chairman.  Her youth, gender and inexperience don’t detract from the gang’s loyalty however as they take her under their wing in an attempt to build up the family name.  But enemy rivals are quick move in on their territory, setting the stage for a showdown over a missing shipment of drugs that could determine who controls the city.

 

A pop-culture touchstone in its native country, Sailor Suit and Machine Gun inspired a pair of TV series, a 2016 sequel and turned star Hiroko Yakushimaru into a short-lived youth icon and pop star.  Her performance is the closest you can get to live-action anime: cute, precocious and cover-girl ready.  The film itself, directed by Shinji Somai, is episodic and choppy, but shot with a decidedly unique style.  Long-takes and camera lenses call attention to the visual storytelling in a way that is sure to impress cinephiles.  Somai struggles to keep the story moving until the gonzo third act, lifted right out of a James Bond film.  But, even with its flaws, Sailor Suit and Machine Gun is an odd entry in the yakuza genre one isn’t likely to forget.

 

Arrow Video’s Blu-ray presentation gets high marks all around, including the 50-minute documentary on the making of the film and its legacy, plus trailers, TV spots and newly commissioned artwork.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tormented

Image
The west coast always struggled to create a creepy atmosphere on screen.  All that southern California sunshine just doesn’t lend itself to ghostly apparitions or gothic castles.  But  Tormented  (1960) gives it a good try, staging its opening scene in an abandoned lighthouse where blackmail turns into murder - and one cover up leads to another.  Director Bert I. Gordon, better known for his giant-sized - but low-budget - monster movies, works well at this level, turning in a film that delivers small scares but perhaps his most  professional finished product. Tom Stewart (played by genre regular Richard Carlson) is a fairly successful jazz pianist whose impending marriage to Meg Hubbard (Susan Gordon) will put him in an entirely new tax bracket.  Trouble is his old flame, Vi (Juli Reding), isn’t taking this lying down.  After  allowing  her to fall to her death in the opening scene, Tom is haunted by disembodied visions of his ex-lover who refuses to go quietly into the afterlife.  And
Read more

The Cat and the Canary

Image
My favorite directors have always been showoffs:  Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg (when he’s feeling frisky) and gonzo auteurs like Sam Raimi.  There’s just something about their cinematic ambition, constantly reminding the audience that, yes, there actually  is  someone behind the camera calling the shots.  And that directorial discontent shines through even in the early days of the medium, such as Paul Leni’s 1927 adaptation of  The Cat and the Canary .  While the rest of the industry was still learning the basics of visual language, Leni fills his frame with tracking shots, POVs and dramatic lighting that set the standard for every spook show to come!  Gathered for the reading of the last will and testament of eccentric recluse Cyrus West,  the potential heirs meet up in his decrepit mansion to discover who will inherit the estate and family jewels.  Predictably there is some petty jealousy when young Annabelle West is named the sole beneficiary…that is, if she can be proved sane afte
Read more

Impulse

Image
William Shatner, for all his ego and arrogance, always seemed comfortable being the butt of a joke.  His career outside of the  Star Trek  franchise was a bumpy road of corny TV shows and enjoyable B-movie dreck.  But he never delivered anything less than 100% “Shatner!”  Like 1974’s  Impulse , a regional drive-in quickie directed by William Grefé ( Stanley, Mako: Jaws of Death ) that casts the once and future Captain Kirk as a psychologically troubled con man whose childhood trauma leads to a string of murdered women.  After dumping the body of his last victim in a Florida canal, Matt Stone (Shatner) is on the prowl for another financial windfall, this time using a phony investment scam to entice Ann (Jennifer Bishop) into a romantic relationship.  But when Ann’s daughter, Tina, is witness to the murder of his business associate (Harold “Chop Top” Sakata), Matt has to clean up his tracks and speed up his escape plan.  That includes silencing Tina…and whoever else gets in his way.   Ta
Read more