Non-Stop

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Audience Member [img]http://www.jfbkk.or.th/images/jff2004_02_L.jpg[/img] There's a Japanese film festival going on right now and I was fortunate enough to carve out some time to attend one of today's screenings. Dangan Runners or Non-Stop starts out slow and meditative and I wondered if I'd been deceived by the synopsis, which described it as a fast-paced yakuza action comedy. But after a bit, this loser guy, who decides to rob a bank because he's failed at everything else, ends up in a convenience store to buy a mask. He shoplifts the mask and another item, probably some dried seaweed snacks or prawn crackers or something, and is caught by the clerk. The would-be bank robber pulls out his gun and shoots the clerk in the arm. He then tries to run out the door, but bumps into another customer, falls and loses his gun. The clerk, spoiling for a fight, grabs the gun. The robber takes off and the clerk chases him. They run and run and run and eventually crash into another guy, a very angry yakuza, who it turns out is after the clerk, who's a junkie and owes the yakuza money. So the yakuza is chasing the clerk who is chasing the robber. The yakuza, it turns out, shares a connection with both the guys. This is revealed in some flashbacks into each character while they are running. The photography was great, lots of handheld running behind the guys running. It's all jumpy, very active. At one point, they pass a sexy woman in a short dress who bends over to pick something up. Each one of them sees something different in the encounter and fantasizes about it differently. This adds an erotic vignette to the film. Meanwhile there's a group of yazuka spoiling for a fight, and some cops have been tipped off as well. I was kind of confused about who the cops were at first. One of them is a geeky guy in glasses who never says anything until the conversation turns to guns. One of the other cops mentions Dirty Harry's gun, and the geek notes that it's a 44 magnum. And then he won't shut up about guns and the various advantages of certain models. It all wraps up in a big Reservoir Dogs-like standoff. All in all, a lot of fun. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member This is the Japanese Counterpart to the Guy Ritchie Movies!!! Absurd Gangster Grotueske par Excellence!!! The Style is Awesome!!! Cinematography is Perfect!!! Soundtrack is Bombastic!!! Acting is Grandious!!! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie has a very simple yet clever premise - an unemployed man trying to steal from a convenience store, and the store clerk catches him in the act... the thief runs away with the store-clerk right after him. All the while, the store clerk is in trouble with a low-rank Yakuza chinpira (gangster). Along the chase for the thief, they catch the eye of the Yakuza who's been looking for the convenience store clerk. The story then moves into high gear in the form of a Tom & Jerry (cat & mouse), but is added with the dog chasing after the cat. The entire 2nd act of D.A.N.G.A.N. Runner (can be translate to english as "bullet runner") is about the chase, and the chase goes on & on to the point that by the end of the 2nd act, the bum forgets why he is running away, and the Yakuza don't remember which of the 2 guys he is chasing, nor does he remember why they're running away from him. Similar to SABU's later film POSTMAN BLUES, the bulk of the film is simply all chase and action, with plenty of physical comedy and dark humor injected to keep the audience engaged. What falls short is the ending, to which the chase stops when the three men run out of steam, and into one of the most chaotic Mexican stand-offs you'll see on film that looks almost as if Sabu was paying homage to Tony Scott's TRUE ROMANCE (written by Quentin Tarantino). Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Non-Stop

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