Watch my video essay about Juzo Itami here!

This movie fucking rips! Why the hell aren’t we all singing its praises from the rooftops??!?

More thoughts to come tomorrow morning after some Zzz’s

EDIT THE NEXT DAY:

So, I'll reiterate, this movie rips. In my opinion, more than the first one, which is apparently an unpopular opinion. I need to highlight first and foremost the score, which, again, is pure bliss, and I've had both Taxing Woman scores on repeat the last two days. Itami in general seem to be an underseen filmmaker, outside of Tampopo and thats baffling! I don't know how someone could watch Tampopo and not immediately want to nosedive into the rest of his filmmography. If they did, they'd certainly discover the wonders of his catalog.

(For instance, Tampopo--a great film in its own right--had 168k logs on this very app. Meanwhile, A Taxing Woman Returns sits at a measly 1.8k. Those are rookie numbers!)

I feel like I'm on a new crusade to preach the gospel of Itami, and I hope people listen.

The blocking, lighting, staging--the cinematography in general just crackles, and I could have paused it every ten seconds to find a study-worthy shot. The man and his crew just KNEW how to move a camera and compose a shot. And on a storytelling level, both this film and its predecessor do a solid job at continuing his ongoing theme of a collective many overcoming adversity/evil. In Tampopo, you see a ramen shop owner assembling a team to become Japan's number 1 ramen shop. In Supermarket Woman, you see the same thing but with supermarkets. In this duo, you see a tax bureau taking down fraud and tax evaders. And one might think, okay, this is same-old-same-old, but NO! Itami continues to find ways to keep these films visually engaging, narratively compelling, characteristically zany, undoubtedly hilarious and satirical, and always a joy to watch. There's a scene where our protagonist goes undercover and infiltrates the temple of a religious sect, and I haven't laughed so hard in quite some time. Everything involving this temple I thought was so compelling and hilarious--like when the members come and kick out the tax auditors early in the film.

I could name scene after scene that just had me fully engaged. And that's the other striking thing about Itami's work: they are jam-packed full of narrative, and yet they never feel like a slog; they always feel propulsive. And effectively, these films are films of process; they depict one long process of gathering evidence, doing stakeouts, and finally committing a raid on those suspected of tax fraud. From beginning to end, it's an audio-visual treat; a feast for the eyes and ears. And once again, Nobuko Miyamoto is dynamite. I nearly started cheering when she was revealed on screen the first time in this movie, like when Captain America catches Thor's hammer.

If you made it this far into my review, help me sing Itami's praises, and let's get a Criterion box set or something. I will not rest until all of his films are available in 4k Blu-ray.

8/10

Watch my video essay about Juzo Itami here!

This movie fucking rips! Why the hell aren’t we all singing its praises from the rooftops??!?

More thoughts to come tomorrow morning after some Zzz’s

EDIT THE NEXT DAY:

So, I'll reiterate, this movie rips. In my opinion, more than the first one, which is apparently an unpopular opinion. I need to highlight first and foremost the score, which, again, is pure bliss, and I've had both Taxing Woman scores on repeat the last two days. Itami in general seem to be an underseen filmmaker, outside of Tampopo and thats baffling! I don't know how someone could watch Tampopo and not immediately want to nosedive into the rest of his filmmography. If they did, they'd certainly discover the wonders of his catalog.

(For instance, Tampopo--a great film in its own right--had 168k logs on this very app. Meanwhile, A Taxing Woman Returns sits at a measly 1.8k. Those are rookie numbers!)

I feel like I'm on a new crusade to preach the gospel of Itami, and I hope people listen.

The blocking, lighting, staging--the cinematography in general just crackles, and I could have paused it every ten seconds to find a study-worthy shot. The man and his crew just KNEW how to move a camera and compose a shot. And on a storytelling level, both this film and its predecessor do a solid job at continuing his ongoing theme of a collective many overcoming adversity/evil. In Tampopo, you see a ramen shop owner assembling a team to become Japan's number 1 ramen shop. In Supermarket Woman, you see the same thing but with supermarkets. In this duo, you see a tax bureau taking down fraud and tax evaders. And one might think, okay, this is same-old-same-old, but NO! Itami continues to find ways to keep these films visually engaging, narratively compelling, characteristically zany, undoubtedly hilarious and satirical, and always a joy to watch. There's a scene where our protagonist goes undercover and infiltrates the temple of a religious sect, and I haven't laughed so hard in quite some time. Everything involving this temple I thought was so compelling and hilarious--like when the members come and kick out the tax auditors early in the film.

I could name scene after scene that just had me fully engaged. And that's the other striking thing about Itami's work: they are jam-packed full of narrative, and yet they never feel like a slog; they always feel propulsive. And effectively, these films are films of process; they depict one long process of gathering evidence, doing stakeouts, and finally committing a raid on those suspected of tax fraud. From beginning to end, it's an audio-visual treat; a feast for the eyes and ears. And once again, Nobuko Miyamoto is dynamite. I nearly started cheering when she was revealed on screen the first time in this movie, like when Captain America catches Thor's hammer.

If you made it this far into my review, help me sing Itami's praises, and let's get a Criterion box set or something. I will not rest until all of his films are available in 4k Blu-ray.

8/10