Inspector Ryoko Itakura from 'Marusa no Onna' is back, but we don't get to see her or her colleagues from the Tokyo Tax Inspection office for almost half an hour. The first scene shows us a body floating in Tokyo Bay, and we segue quickly into the middle of a very elaborate real estate scheme involving one of the New Religions and that old sinner, Senator Urushibara. Ryoko has continued her meteoric rise, and it is she who gets to break in their newest inspector. He is also their future boss, since he is a golden-boy graduate of Tokyo University (think Harvard Business School). He turns out to be bright, hard-working, and sincere (a quality much prized in Japan, in theory). Neither Ryoko's ingenuity nor her willingness to bend the rules have flagged, and the case comes down to another high stakes big raid. Given the amount of money in play, there is a sniper and a well-armed burglar. This is definitely one of those movies for movie lovers. Itami continues his signature visual citations of Japanese, British and American classics. There is a slightly more realistic tone this time, so the movie ends with a sigh of relief rather than a cheer.
Review of A Taxing Woman's Return
