An inspired parody of the
gangster genre on the one hand and a virtuoso excercise in storytelling on the
other, Postman Blues was the second film by former actor and singer Sabu
(real name: Hiroki Tanaka).
Several subplots play side by
side, all involving happily ignorant young mailman Sawaki (Sabu regular Tsutsumi,
who has so far starred in all the director's films). When he delivers a letter
to Noguchi, an old school friend-turned-yakuza, Noguchi's freshly chopped-off
pinky rolls off the table and into Sawaki's mailbag. This lands Noguchi into
trouble with his superiors, who want to see the pinky as proof of the young
man's loyalty. Sawaki meanwhile unwittingly becomes the main suspect in a
drug-trafficking case after the police see him leave Noguchi's apartment.
The police turn out to be
incompetent idiots and they fail time after time to capture Sawaki, who is
oblivious to all that's going on around him and continues to make his rounds. On
one of these rounds he meets Hitman Joe, to whom Sawaki delivers an invitation
to the National Hitman Contest. Joe, looking like the archetypal Japanese movie
gangster - a cross between Ken Takakura and Jo Shishido, is a resident of the
local hospital where he is being treated for a terminal disease. In this
hospital Sawaki finds Sayoko, a young girl who asks him to deliver a letter she
has written to herself. He complies and promptly falls in love with her.
Sawaki's appearance triggers
a renewed lust for life in these two people. Joe starts training to compete in
the suitably absurd National Hitman Contest (whose contestants should be very
familiar to anyone with some knowlegde of the gangster films of the last decade
or so), while Sayoko's medical condition improves by leaps and bounds as her
relationship with Sawaki blossoms. In the meantime, the police are still after
Sawaki (who looks even more suspicious in their eyes now that he hangs out with
Hitman Joe) and the desperate Noguchi is being handed an ultimatum for returning
his pinky.
Though director Sabu chooses
a tone of broad comedy and downright parody, at times Postman Blues is a
beautifully touching film. Unusual for a parody, there is life and personality
to the main characters, and the scenes between Sawaki and Sayoko - which like
their personalities are understated and quiet - are emotional and moving without
sticking out from the rest of the film. Another example is the finale, which
manages to be achingly funny and moving at the same time.
Different to what the title
might lead one to believe, Postman Blues is a funny, inventive and winning
charmer from start to finish.
From Midnight
Eye
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