3 out of 5

Directed by: Takashi Miike

You’re considering watching ‘White-Collar Worker Kintaro?’  There’s a good chance you’re in the same boat as me: completing your Takashi Miike library.    There are, perhaps, less tolerable film’s in Miike’s oeuvre, but ‘Kintaro’ is one of the most faceless, distinctly lacking in any of the editing or framing techniques that pop up in most of his flicks, not to mention the alienation and family themes that are similarly absent.  This, then, is Miike donning a very particular cap, and – let’s suppose – trying to be true to the good-cheer formula of Kintaro, which celebrates the working man (a salaryman) as the wholesome cornerstore of business by pitting him against some select shady characters.  In film, that’s Kintaro – Katsunori Takahashi – figuring out there’s some unscrupulous contracting going on with some government chaps, and so falls back on his former mob connections (which equals a super massive gang of tough lookin’ motorcycle riders) to help set things straight.  Recognizing the movies on those terms, it does its job.  The script steps us through introductions to Kintaro’s balance of ready-to-rumble attitude and moral upstandingness and timefully introduces conflict – first via Kintaro’s new boss and then the overall bad-business plot – while somehow zooming way past reviewing all of the character connections the movie presumably inherited from the manga.  This, perhaps, could be considered a Miike touch, depending on how giving you want to be with his effect on a film, that ‘White-Collar Worker’ really just assumes you’ll get the gist of the background without explaining any of it.  And you do, although honestly, it’s a bit confusing if you’re trying to figure out Kintaro’s personal life…  But there’s also the very real possibility that the script and our director just shrugged and figured that the fans who watch this will either know the characters already or not care.

So consider your job done as Miike researcher by watching this.  It’s not boring by any means, it’s just completely typical, which, as we know, is, overall, a rarity in Miike’s work.