Hubert is a French policeman with very sharp methods. After being forced to take 2 months off by his boss, who doesn't share his view on working methods, he goes back to Japan, where he ...
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After hiding his loot and getting thrown in jail, Ruby, a brooding outlaw encounters Quentin, a dim-witted and garrulous giant who befriends him. After Quentin botches a solo escape attempt... See full summary »
A medieval nobleman and his squire are accidentally transported to contemporary times by a senile sorcerer. He enlists the aid of his descendent to try to find a way to return home, all the... See full summary »
Director:
Jean-Marie Poiré
Stars:
Christian Clavier,
Jean Reno,
Valérie Lemercier
Unlucky, clumsy, charming Marseille PD detective Émilien Coutant-Kerbalec must assist worse-than-Clouseau commissioner Gibert guarding a Belgian criminal reputed as dangerous as - and caged... See full summary »
Director:
Gérard Krawczyk
Stars:
Samy Naceri,
Frédéric Diefenthal,
Bernard Farcy
Gravity or Police, these guys don't believe in any law. Idolised by the youth of Paris as much as they're hated by the police, they are the Yamakasis, modern samurais. With acrobatic ... See full summary »
Directors:
Ariel Zeitoun,
Julien Seri
Stars:
Châu Belle Dinh,
Williams Belle,
Malik Diouf
Hubert is a French policeman with very sharp methods. After being forced to take 2 months off by his boss, who doesn't share his view on working methods, he goes back to Japan, where he used to work 19 years ago, to settle the probate of his girlfriend who left him shortly after marriage without a trace. There he mets his former colleague Momo and his daughter Yumi who he did not know was ever born. Hubert eventually finds out why his girlfriend left him and the reason becomes his and his new daughters problem.Written by
Schwarz
The wall art that Yumi envisions for her room was taken directly from liner notes of The Prodigy's album 'Music for the Jilted Generation' which features the song "Voodoo People" that was used in this movie. See more »
Goofs
There is a scene where Hubert tips the bellhop. Tipping is not customary in Japan, and unless they have worked with Westerners for a long time, most Japanese feel uncomfortable receiving gratuities. See more »
`Wasabi' is a high-spirited French action comedy with a Japanese name. This Luc Besson production stars Jean Reno in a wonderful performance as a tough-guy French cop who is as quick to use his tongue as his overeager fists. One day, out of the blue, Detective Fiorentino discovers that he has a 19 year-old daughter by a Japanese woman who left him almost 20 years ago, breaking his heart in the process. The girl, Yumi, turns out to be an orange-haired free spirit who hates cops and has been led to believe that her father raped her mother. Much of the film is spent with Hubert and Yumi getting to know one another, as they uncover secrets about her mother's past that seem to have made the young woman the target of some rather unsavory characters.
The plot is the least of the matter in this film. As directed by Gerard Krawczyk, `Wasabi' is really all about style. Besson's screenplay is fitfully amusing, doling out cleverness and cutesyness in roughly equal measure. Cinematographer Gerard Sterin brings out the colorful richness of the urban Japanese landscape and editor Yanne Herve doesn't linger longer on the jokes and sight gags than is absolutely necessary. These elements help to compensate for the somewhat desperate air that afflicts the screenplay from time to time.
The prime asset of `Wasabi' is Jean Reno's performance. Reno perfectly mines the comic potential inherent in the material through the tone of weary cynicism and superiority to all around him that he conveys throughout. As an actor who has played this type of rogue-cop character many times in his career, Reno obviously relishes this opportunity for a little good-natured self-ribbing. And he does a splendid job.
`Wasabi' is little more than a piffle when all is said and done, but Reno makes it worth seeing.
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`Wasabi' is a high-spirited French action comedy with a Japanese name. This Luc Besson production stars Jean Reno in a wonderful performance as a tough-guy French cop who is as quick to use his tongue as his overeager fists. One day, out of the blue, Detective Fiorentino discovers that he has a 19 year-old daughter by a Japanese woman who left him almost 20 years ago, breaking his heart in the process. The girl, Yumi, turns out to be an orange-haired free spirit who hates cops and has been led to believe that her father raped her mother. Much of the film is spent with Hubert and Yumi getting to know one another, as they uncover secrets about her mother's past that seem to have made the young woman the target of some rather unsavory characters.
The plot is the least of the matter in this film. As directed by Gerard Krawczyk, `Wasabi' is really all about style. Besson's screenplay is fitfully amusing, doling out cleverness and cutesyness in roughly equal measure. Cinematographer Gerard Sterin brings out the colorful richness of the urban Japanese landscape and editor Yanne Herve doesn't linger longer on the jokes and sight gags than is absolutely necessary. These elements help to compensate for the somewhat desperate air that afflicts the screenplay from time to time.
The prime asset of `Wasabi' is Jean Reno's performance. Reno perfectly mines the comic potential inherent in the material through the tone of weary cynicism and superiority to all around him that he conveys throughout. As an actor who has played this type of rogue-cop character many times in his career, Reno obviously relishes this opportunity for a little good-natured self-ribbing. And he does a splendid job.
`Wasabi' is little more than a piffle when all is said and done, but Reno makes it worth seeing.