Synopsis
Tatsuo is a Yakuza underling. Whe he fails to carry out his first mission, he steals money from his boss's house and runs away. However, he is caught by Yakuza and his friends are brutally murdered. Tatsuo barely manages to leave on a taxi driven by Kandake who emigrated to Peru but came back to Japan and is making a living as a taxi driver. At first, Tatsuo thinks the driver is kind to him because of the money he has but the two become closer as they wander about the city together. Kandake, having lived outside Japan for a long time, doesn't know the roads very well and his Japanese is not fluent. Tatsuo talks about his mother and Kandake plays a traditional musical instrument of Peru. They become like friends, while the Yakuza members are busy looking for them.
"Kamikaze Taxi," produced in 1995, brought fame to Director Harada. This movie shows a brilliant combination of the hard-boiled action and lyricism. It also talks about the reality of laborers who are immigrants of Japanese ancestry. These people are discriminated against in the Japanese society although they look like Japanese. By inserting scenes showing the reality of Japanese political situation, the director is making the film more persuasive. The distant sound of Peruvian folk music adds flavor to the movie. The film has the form of a simple road movie, but the black comedy style jokes are pungent. The movie evolvs around a betrayer and the chasing Yakuza, but it hands out various questions concerning Japan's role in World War and women. Like Harada's several other works, satirizing the reality forms the crucial part in "Kamikaze Taxi." In this film, the director is weighing the meaning of the old notion of identity called "a people" in the Japanese society. Koji Yakusho's action as the taxi driver is superb. He has made himself a true star by his roles in "The Sleeping Man," "Paradise Lost" and "Cure." "Kamikaze Taxi" became a box office hit and won praises from critics, but the works Harada produced later failed to be that good. It was in 1997 that his work "Leaving (Bounce Kogals)" became another such success. (Ui-chan Kim)