Sailor Suit and Machine Gun

Year: 1981

Duration: 01:51:44

Directed by: Shinji Sômai

Actors: Hiroko Yakushimaru, Tsunehiko Watase, Rentarô Mikuni

Language: Japanese (English subs)

Country: Japan

Also known as: Sêrâ-fuku to kikanjû

Description: High school student Hoshi Izumi (Yakushimaru Hiroko) is just a normal teenaged schoolgirl, except for the fact that her father is the latest heir to a dwindling yakuza gang.

Review: Sailor Suit and Machine Gun is a stylish and cutesy parody of the Yakuza genre, featuring our schoolgirl protagonist brandishing a machine gun, insane Yakuza bosses, and 80’s J-pop ballads.

Regarded as a household name in Japan and a cult classic elsewhere by many accounts, I, however, admit I wasn’t too enthralled with Sailor Suit and Machine Gun as I have been with other iconic Japanese movies of the 80’s. The idea of a schoolgirl Yakuza boss doesn’t seem used to its full potential, and I found myself more impressed with the directing efforts (many long-shot takes and interesting scene transitions) than I did with the actual story and machine gunning going on.

Still, it’s one of those movies everyone worth their Japanese movie-watching salt has to see to be legit, and it’s not a terrible movie. Definitely some scenes worth seeing, and it has a certain 80’s charm.

Enjoy.

Screenshots:

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Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (1981)

Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (English Subtitles)