Writer/director Satoshi Miki offers an amusing tale of a vapid housewife who is rescued from the monotony of feeding a turtle for her tanshin funin husband by being recruited as a spy for an unstated foreign power. Life gains meaning as she strives to hone her until now taken-for-granted ordinariness.
Juri Ueno as Suzume Katakura keeps it fairly reigned in, reacting with gasp of incredulity to the slightly surreal mayhem unleashed around her by the assembled well-known comedians. There is a dancing barber, a secret ramen genius, a tofu-making small arms expert, and her friend Peacock, the quirky, charismatic Yû Aoi, who wants to live in Paris with a Frenchman and a view of the Eiffel Tower. Aoi is a great talent and it is slightly disappointing that she is under-used here. Perhaps that is deliberate, to prevent her overshadowing Ueno.
The comedy is quick-fire and this is a series of loosely connected sketches rather than a compelling narrative. Production values are low and reek of micro-budget movie-making, but the comedy is funny so all is forgiven. The star here really is Miki's script and sense of comic timing (though more visuality and less narration would have been welcome). And a relief to see a J director with a sense of economy - the 90-minute running time is just right. Pleasant fare for those who share the director's light, frothy sense of humour.
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