Thanks to cinematographer Gustavo Hadba, “Yakuza Princess” unfurls in a stylish neon-lit reality where each static frame is industriously designed to spy on the characters from behind windows and doors.

Hands are chopped off and rooftops are walked on with sufficient visual energy to maintain our attention but not to earn our amazement. Their roads convene in a well-executed fight and chase sequence at the protagonist’s apartment complex. Back east, high-ranking gangster Takeshi (Tsuyoshi Ihara) also plans to track her down. The Japanese mob, or yakuza, learned she survived the massacre and wish to amend their mistake.Įlsewhere in town, a nameless white American male ( Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who can’t remember his past but carries a feared and coveted Muramasa katana, finds his way to her. Unbeknownst to her, the years of training will soon be put to the test. Skillful in combat, Akemi can more than defend herself, and we are made aware of her abilities early on during a brawl with predatory men at a bar. Mostly unexplored in cinema, this cultural link between Brazil and Japan had potential to stand out as distinctive assets, but Amorim and co-writers render out its significance for a generic plot. ‘Chile ’76’ Review: A Rich Housewife Becomes a Reluctant Spy in Manuela Martelli’s Shrewd Pinochet-Era Thriller But while having Brazilian creators at the helm, the country serves as an inconsequential backdrop that could have easily been substituted by any other urban center.

That incident in Osaka two decades prior landed Akemi and her grandfather in Sao Paolo - text on screen explains the South American city hosts the largest Japanese community outside of the island state. Gruesome dismemberment at a family party opens the film, adapted from the graphic novel “Samurai Shiro” by Danilo Beyruth.

Such a seemingly trivial detail is indicative of the astounding incoherence and misguided international ambitions of this subpar action saga. Japan, however, makes their young people wait until they turn 20 for the right to booze it up. Yet, in nonsensical fashion, when Akemi (singer-songwriter Masumi), the Japanese-born, Brazilian-raised heroine of Vicente Amorim’s “ Yakuza Princess,” toasts in front of her late grandfather’s portrait, she follows American regulation and celebrates finally turning 21 as a major milestone. The legal drinking age in most countries around the globe is 18 years old Brazil is among those nations.

Astronauta by Danilo Beyruth