Review CXL - Wasabi

Review 140
Wasabi (2001)

When my boyfriend happened to not be working this weekend, I hopped in a car to visit him. Physically and mentally drowning, he proposed we watch a Jean Reno film, particularly Gérard Krawczyk's Wasabi, starring, well, Jean Reno, 広末涼子, or Hirosue Ryōko, and Michel Muller. I was pretty damn surprised he recommended this one, especially since he based his recommendation from a Vietnamese friend of his. Regardless, we plopped in front of his computer to check out Wasabi.

Hubert Fiorentini (Jean Reno) is a pretty get-your-hands-dirty kind of cop, but he has a soft spot after having been abandoned by his one true love nineteen years ago, a Japanese spy named Miko. However, when it turns out Miko left him everything in her will after an abrupt death, including a daughter, Yumi (広末涼子), he travels to Japan to find out whether or not Miko was murdered.

Number one comment is that I didn't realise our main actress was the girl from Departures. Whaaat! Then again, I watched that film years ago and only really remember something about morticians and bathing. Still, check it out - it was good! My second comment was, what the hell, Jean Reno was Spanish?! Obviously I don't know much. But anyway, that has nothing to do with the film, so I digress.

Honestly, Wasabi was not a bad film. I was expecting it to be really cheesy and just an overall bad action film. I mean, if there's something that kills a film really fast, at least for me, it would have to be a club/dancing scene. And Wasabi opens with one! It just dates the film and makes me feel uncomfortable. I think of how The Social Network had a club scene and I didn't mind it, but I think that's just because I liked the remix of The Sound of Violence (although listening to it now, it's not great). Otherwise, man, it just looks awkward as hell. But yeah, after seeing Jean Reno walk in and disrupt the party with a punch to a person's face, I breathed a sigh of relief. Seriously, though, the humour was not bad. My boyfriend and I had our little giggle every so often. I mean, Wasabi is not taking itself that seriously, so I didn't either. It's campy, but the initial scenes made me laugh. The whole "she left nineteen years ago" joke wasn't beaten into the bush too many times, so it stayed fresh enough to be cute.

Once Hubert travels to Japan, it was fine. I thought Michel Muller was fine - I liked the little bond the two had, although it really did remind me of Les visiteurs with Jean Reno as the macho machismo with a quirky sidekick on the... side. Although in this case, Michel Muller's character, Momo, was not as played. But guys, couldn't you have hired a half-Japanese actress instead of the full-on one we got? The whole time I was shaking my head since, if I was Hubert, I would have abandoned that girl the moment she walked in. So it was pretty unbelievable that Yumi was Hubert's daughter, but whatever, we'll pretend otherwise. I wasn't a big fan of Yumi's character, although thankfully she wasn't over-played as this Japanese cutesy girl. However, the atmosphere between her and Hubert was very odd at times. She was coming across as playing with him, which, I mean, she doesn't know he's her father, but it makes it off because Hubert is not sitting there telling her to cut it out. I dunno, man, maybe this was just me because afterward, when Yumi realises Hubert is her father, she doesn't find it weird at all. Still, it was just an awkward pairing in my opinion. When I was nineteen, I wouldn't be parading around with this older guy, even if I was told he was a protector or whatever. Yumi is rebellious and doesn't care, but she gladly brings him to an arcade to hang out with friends. Seemed really plot-driven and not making sense with the character's personality.

My only other complaint is that Hubert didn't know what wasabi was. What the hell? It seems odd to me that he would know some sake company and play oriental music in his apartment, but wasabi? Nah, man, that's obscure. It didn't make sense to me at all.

In the end, Wasabi is kind of awkward and it is not masterful in the least, but you'll get some chuckles. It isn't very action-y, so you're relying more on the little jokes to get you through. Recommended? Eh, it was okay. It passes, but don't expect much.