Kamikaze Taxi
{{Infobox film
| name = Kamikaze Taxi
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| director = Masato Harada
| producer = Akio Nanjo
Kazunori Okada
Narihiko Yoshida
Susumu Tanaka
Yoshinori Moniwa
| writer = Masato Harada
| screenplay =
| story =
| based_on =
| narrator =
| starring = Kōji Yakusho
Kazuya Takahashi
Reiko Kataoka
Takeshi Caesar
Mickey Curtis
Taketoshi Naito
| music = Masahiro Kawasaki
| cinematography =
| editing = Hirohide Abe
| studio =
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|1995|04|25|Japan}}
| runtime = 169 minutes
| country = Japan
| language =
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Kamikaze Taxi (stylized as KAMIKAZE TAXI in Japan) is a 1995 Japanese action and crime film by director Masato Harada. The film is about Tatsuo (Kazuya Takahashi), a gangster and pimp who sends out his only prostitute (Reiko Kataoka) to service a politician. When she returns beaten, Tatsuo's girlfriend complains but is killed by crime boss Animaru (Mickey Curtis). Tatsuo seeks revenge as he and his gang vandalize the politician's house and steal money. In retaliation, Tatsuo's bosses put a hit out on them. He flees, riding in the taxi driven by a Peruvian Japanese named Kantake (Kōji Yakusho). The film was shown at the 1995 London Film Festival and actor Mickey Curtis won the Kinema Junpo Award for best supporting actor in 1996 for his work in the film.
Production
The soundtrack for Kamikaze Taxi was composed by Masahiro Kawasaki, who used Peruvian pipes. To deal with the Peruvian-Japanese taxi driver character in the film, director Masato Harada had Kawasaki listen to tapes of Peruvian music to come up with a similar sound.{{cite web|url=http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/masato_harada.shtml|work=Midnight Eye|title=Masato Harada|accessdate=March 12, 2012|author=Gatto, Robin}}
Release
Kamikaze Taxi was released in Japan on April 25, 1995.{{cite web|url=http://www.kinejun.jp/cinema/id/28014|work=Kinema Junpo|accessdate=March 12, 2012|title=ＫＡＭＩＫＡＺＥ ＴＡＸＩ(邦画)}}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
The film was shown at the 1995 London Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/78563/kamikaze-taxi.html|title=Kamikaze Taxi (1995)|work=Time Out|accessdate=March 12, 2012}}
Reception
Mickey Curtis won the Kinema Junpo Award for best supporting actor in 1996 for his work in the film. Time magazine stated that "the narrative is overly long (160 minutes) and lacks cohesion. But the film has an epic lunacy, a satiric darkness. Its neon-lit nightscapes and vivid brutality dance, shock--and leave the viewer both riveted and repulsed."{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054222,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221011349/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054222,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 21, 2011|magazine=Time|author=Short, Stephen|title=The Cab Ride From Hell|accessdate=March 12, 2012|date=November 16, 1998}} Variety also commented on the films length, noting "Though the film could easily lose a quarter of an hour from a self-indulgent sequence in a group-therapy clinic, there's actually very little slackness during the 170-minute running time."{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117910580/|work=Variety|title=Kamikaze Taxi|accessdate=March 12, 2012|date=December 18, 1995|author=Elley, Derek}}
Cast
- Kōji Yakusho as Kantake
- Kazuya Takahashi as Tatsuo
- Reiko Kataoka as Tama
- Kenichi Yajima as Ishida
- Takeshi Caesar
- Mickey Curtis as Animaru
- Taketoshi Naito as Domon
Notes
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