Directed by Vicente Amorim
Written by Vicente Amorim, Kimi Lee, Tubaldini Shelling, Fernando Toste
Based on the graphic novel by Danilo Beyruth
Starring MASUMI, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tsuyoshi Ihara
Running time 1 hour, 51 minutes
MPAA Rated R for strong bloody violence, some language and graphic nudity
Opens in theaters and on demand September 3

by Hunter Bush, Podcast Czar & Staff Writer

“The past catches up with us.

Sometimes a past we forgot, sometimes a past that doesn’t belong to us.”

This is my second year covering Fantasia Fest for MovieJawn. Obviously last year was an outlier, having to be completely digital due to the state of the world, and even though I knew that, I was not prepared for the scope of this year’s fest. With a 20 day schedule chock full of screenings, both in-person and digital, and many films only being available for a limited window, it’s easy for things to get lost in the shuffle. I’m very glad that Vicente Amorim’s Yakuza Princess wasn’t one of them. Based on a graphic novel - that I’m honestly having some trouble finding information on but which seems to originally be either in Spanish or more likely Portuguese - called Samurai Shirô, Yakuza Princess is a kind of origin story that I’d be very interested in following along with as the story continues.

Akemi (actress/musician MASUMI) lives in a Japanese diaspora in São Paulo, Brazil and is about to turn 21 when a whole lot of her past comes crashing into her life unbidden, along with a battle-scarred man (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and a sword that’s the lynchpin to the whole thing. The story isn’t going to blow your hair back if you’re a fan of yakuza-adjacent flicks, but for those who maybe don’t know: the yakuza are the organized crime families of Japan, so if it helps, you can think of this as a mafia movie but with more focus on honor and more decapitations than cement shoes. Unbeknownst to her, Akemi is the heir to a powerful family thought wiped out 20 years ago, so she’ll have to figure out who she can trust if she wants to survive.

The direction here is very good, with a focus on strong images and saturated neon-colored locations that all look amazing, but the fight scenes are a bit choppy for my taste. This is an issue I’ve had with a few recent fight-choreography-heavy action movies, and is entirely a personal taste issue, but I prefer being able to see an entire sequence of moves play out clearly, rather than cutting every few seconds to a cool image/angle/POV that’s gone before it really has time to leave an impact. Beyond that another small quibble I have is the presence and overabundance of CGI blood spray and CGI bullet impacts. They just never look good to me, what can I say?

MASUMI is very good here with room to grow as both a character and a performer if the film should be sequelized, and her interactions with the amnesiac soldier played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers are interesting, especially as Akemi begins to feel her power more as the film rolls along. There’s also a fascinating three-way-dynamic between the two of them and Takeshi (Tsuyoshi Ihara), a man neither of them trust (with good reason) who is nonetheless motivated by honor into playing his part in events.

As Akemi is forced further and further from what she thought her life was going to be, and she uncovers more of the history that was hidden from her, she begins to learn that your past doesn’t define you. Yakuza Princess ends with the set-up that there could be further adventures and as I said at the top, I’m fully onboard for more. I genuinely like the characters, I just hope that in a cinematic landscape full of talent, any future installments learn to let the choreo shine through a bit more.

Yakuza Princess played as part of Fantasia Fest 2021 and will be getting a wider release from Magnet Releasing on September 3rd.

Follow Hunter’s Fantasia Fest coverage on twitter, instagram or letterboxd.