Blues Harp

Release Year: 1998

Director: Takashi Miike

Review: A harmonica and the Yakuza, who knew Blues music and the Japanese mafia would work so well together.  We begin with Chuji(Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), a half Japanese, half black, bartender and part time drug dealer who is a gifted harmonica player.  He happens upon Kenji(Seiichi Tanabe), a badly wounded ambitious low ranking member of the yakuza, who he helps out. The two become friends, despite their loyalties to opposite gangs.  While Kenji takes aim for the top of the Yakuza family Chuji starts to pull his life together, but the two's friendship keep them tied to one another.

Director Takashi Miike has a wonderful sensibility which grounds his film.  He is able to infuse style without losing focus.  The rhythmic blues performance blend seamlessly into the violent mafia underworld.  The mood of the film is pitch perfect.  As much as Miike is a fantastic visual director, he never compromises the story.  He really mixes two  great narratives together.  At it's core it's a personal story about a young man trying to buck his troubled youth and move on into maturity, expressed beautifully through the use of music.  It's an odd medium since you normally don't associate blues with Japanese culture, but this only adds to the uniqueness of the story.  At the same time there is also the Yakuza arch which is fascinating in of itself. Rather than stock characters, Kenji isn't your prototypical mafia henchman, there is a humanity to him that lifts the story out of the ordinary mafia fodder.

The acting is great.  Ikeuchi commands the screen, bursting with charisma.  He manages to seamlessly jump from harmonica wielding blues player to a drug dealer running from the Yakuza all within the span of a scene.  Playing a perfect foil to his cool nature is Tokiko, played by Saori Sekino.  She is the overly bubbly girlfriend, who after their first date brings over a suitcase full of stuffed animals to decorate Chuji's apartment.  They are completely opposite, and yet have a great connection.  The film is full of these seemingly contrasting elements that none the less flow together. 

From beginning to end the film is a well paced, perfectly executed drama. There is the excitement of the Yakuza plot, and heart in the personal story of Chuji. The film is full of great little moments that cumulatively add up to something that's very solid. Two seemingly independent plot lines link together and combine perfectly to make this a great film.

Rating: 4/5