Hagetaka

A Japanese car company is under attack by a Chinese financial group, and it's up to former vulture Masahiko Washizu (Nao Ohmori) to save it. But what he has to do takes a very high price. Actually, I had no idea what was happening. The bits of English provided by Christopher Pelligini and Gregory Pekar (as American financial consultants) helped a little, but there was so much maneuvering and so many financial-type discussions that I couldn't tell what anyone was doing. But technically, this was an interesting film to watch. How does a film about back-room dealings and financial manipulation become attractive? By a good mix of background music – some urgent pounding, some adagio choruses – to set the mood. And by a hyperactive camera often hand held, combined with quick edits, various angles and colored filters. The effect was a very glossy, hi-tech look. This film, produced by NHK, was based on a TV miniseries starring Ohmori. The appeal is limited – white-collar workers as modern day samurai doesn't do well overseas. Maybe if it had subtitles it would have been better. But I doubt that will ever happen.