Minbo, or The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion is currently streaming on The Criterion Channel

Minbo, or The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (1992)105 minComedyRating 55/100

An upscale Japanese hotel hires Mahiru (Nobuko Miyamoto), a lawyer adept at dealing with the yakuza, to help them rid their hotel of the local gangsters so they can get a contract for a meeting of important foreign officials. With this raucous farce—an enormous box-office hit in Japan—director Juzo Itami dared to satirize the yakuza and paid dearly for it; shortly after the film’s release, his face was slashed in an attack by vengeful mobsters, and his mysterious death, five years later, was alleged to have been further payback.

Cast: Nobuko Miyamoto, Yasuo Daichi, Akira Takarada, Takehiro Murata, Yuji Miyake, Shirō Itō, Akira Nakao

Director: Jūzō Itami