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movie review - Kamikazi Taxi

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

This is - surprise - a Japanese flick. In Japan, there are a number of people who have immigrated from South America. These people are the children of Japanese emigrants who left Japan in the years following WWII.

One of the main characters in this movie is such an immigrant. A half-Japanese, half-Peruvian Indian, he struggles with the language and the intolerance of the Japanese. He's taken a job as a taxi driver, and on one fateful night picks up a young Yakuza lieutenant on the run. It's hard to relate any of the gangster's role without giving away the plot, so I won't discuss that.

I can say, however, that this movie can be a surprisingly subtle and graphically violent. It also wanders through many parts of Japanese life, and struggles with some of the lingering social fallout from the war. In all, very worth watching.

Recommended.