Akira Jimbo - Wasabi

Customer Reviews:

Enertaining the first time through. Leaves you Hungary later........2005-09-12

`Wasabi', a film directed by Gerard Krawczyk and more importantly written by Luc Besson (`The Professional', `The Fifth Element', `La Femme Nikita') and starring Jean Reno (of many of the same films), is a French take on the American Dirty Harry / Axel Foley type of loose cannon policeman played by Jean Reno in place of Eastwood and Murphy. This may be a bit odd as Reno is much less the hot Murphy figure as he is the French equivalent of the modern Noir hero as played by Harvey Keitel. In fact, Reno and Keitel played exactly the same role in `La Femme Nikita' and the less successful American remake.

The unfortunate thing is that while the plots of `Dirty Harry' and `Beverly Hills Cop' are an interesting framework on which the rogue cop struts his stuff, the plot of `Wasabi' is almost inconsequential. That doesn't mean the film is not fun to watch, as Reno and his two primary supporting characters do great jobs of bulking up their characters to fill out the absence of a meaningful plot.

The story, briefly, is based on Reno's character, Hubert Fiorentini, a Paris policeman and former French intelligence agent in Tokyo is summoned to Tokyo because he is the only beneficiary in the will of a Japanese girlfriend who jilted him 19 years earlier when they both worked in the French embassy in Tokyo, Reno as an intelligence operative and girlfriend as a crypographer.

In Tokyo, we meet the second of the three main characters, an operative colleague of Fiorentini both were France's covert strongarms in Tokyo. Soon, when Hubert sees the lawyer probating the will, we meet the third major character, the 19 year old daughter of the Japanese code breaker and our Hubert. Daughter does not know Hubert is her father, and threatens to kill her father when she meets him. Daughter is a chip off the old Nikita character block, slightly younger, less larcenous, and certainly less dopy, but just as manic and irresponsible.

The big surprise which drives what is taken for a plot in the movie is when Hubert discovers that dead girlfriend / mother has $200,000,000 in her Japanese bank accounts in trust for soon to be legally adult daughter. It seems, however,that this money was somehow taken from a Japanese gangster who does a rather poor imitation of Italian-American gangsters as depicted by directors far less talented or imaginative than Martin Scorsese or Frances Coppela. With a combination of the fact that our Nippon scarface (yes, he has prominent scars on his face) has relatively inept bodyguards and the fact that our hero Hubert is something of especially adept at fanciful means of incapacitating bad guys, Hubert is able to keep himself and daughter out of scarface's clutches for most of Act II.

In the last act, with the help of some heavy duty hardware from the French Tokyo cold war stash of weapons and Hubert's Tokyo wingman, Hubert ultimately teletransfers the money out of the bad guys' clutches and take down the whole gang with help from his long dormant network of Tokyo operatives.

The fact that it is so much fun to write this review is a sure sign that the movie is fun to watch, at least once. The problem is whether or not the DVD is worth buying. The thin plot never explains how dead girlfriend got the 200 million bucks from scarface or exactly how girlfriend died or what connection a hidden notebook had to the case or even why the seeming larceny occurred many years ago, as 4/5 of the loot was interest, which could only have accrued over many years.

The point of the title is based on no more than a sight gag of Reno's character eating gobs of undiluted Wasabi with no sigh that he senses the very high heat in this Japanese horseradish. The point is made when faithful henchman eats a small portion himself and is rewarded with a scorched mouth which he demonstrates clearly with mumbles and large amounts of drinking water.

Very few comedies wear well after multiple viewings. Aside from Shakespeare's comedies and Woody Allen movies, there are very few I consider worth owning, and this is not one of them, although I sincerely enjoyed the experience of watching it the first time, as I am something of a Jean Reno fan.

Note that like most French movies, watching with the original French soundtrack and English subtitles is superior to watching the dubbed English, as you always loose something in the inflections of the dubbed speech. And, the two translations are different, and based on my rudimentary High School French, I think the subtitled translation is better.

Spicy grooves, but short on instruction and length........2003-12-14

Akira Jimbo is one of the most famous drummer to come out of Japan in the last 20 years. He possesses superb technique, limb independence, and a very creative approach to drumming. Midi trigger pads are incorporated into his set, allowing him to create an integrated harmonic and rhythmic presentation. I had high expectations when I ordered this DVD, and Akira's playing was up to the task: smooth, imaginative, and dynamic. The camera work, sound quality, and production values were great. However, I wasn't pleased with the overall DVD.

The main section of the Wasabi DVD runs 41 minutes!! That is nowhere near long enough. The DVD format allows for over 2 hours on a single side, so why is this so short? The material that Akira covers could easily have filled 2 hours, but the instructional approach of the entire DVD was not detailed enough. For example, when Akira demonstrates a pattern that he is going to expand on (using the Wasabi method), he plays it for a few bars, but doesn't break it down in detail so that you know exectly what he is playing. Then when he applies the Wasabi methods, you still don't know exectly what he is playing (even though it sounds great). Concepts are quickly addressed, but not analyzed deeply enough. Hand and foot techniques are touched on, along with drum tuning, and how to practice. It is shallow at best.

The Wasabi methods are applied to a chosen pattern, and are composed of changing note values, changing the instrument source, chaning the starting point, or adding another pattern. One pattern is used to demonstate these concepts, and they were very powerful.

Only 4 complete performances are included on this DVD, which I think isn't enough when compared to other instructional drumming DVDs by Steve Smith and Marco Minnemann. The instruction itself on this DVD was lacking (versus the Steve Smith DVD, which sets the standard), but if Wasabi is supposed to be about adding spice to your grooves, how about demonstrating MORE grooves in MORE detail? 41 minutes doesn't cut it.

I wish Hudson Music had produced this DVD, because it would have been exactly what I was expecting (and what it needed to be). Akira has it all, but this DVD doesn't. Maybe next time...

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