| Shinichi Tsutsumi , Diamond Yukai
, Tomorowo Taguchi .
Keystone Cops meets Run Lola Run by way of Fight Club in this absurdist
comedy-drama directed by up and coming Japanese filmmaker Sabu.
Yasuda (Tomoro Taguchi) lives a life of perpetual humiliation: his
meek, bumbling ways have made him the disgrace of the kitchen where
he works and a failure in the eyes of his bouncy ex-girlfriend,
who dumped him for a yuppie in an expensive suit. In a desperate
attempt to retain some self-respect and dignity, the cook plots
to rob a bank. Just before he strides through the bank's sliding
glass doors, however, he realizes that he forgot one crucial thing
-- a gauze face mask (often worn when one has a cold in Japan).
He hurries to a nearby convenience store, only to find that it only
stocks one in a child's size. Realizing that he also forgot his
wallet, the increasingly panicky Yasuda pockets the mask, only to
get caught in the act by a store clerk named Aikawa (Diamond Yukai)
-- a crank-addicted rock singer whose career is rapidly going south.
A tussle ensues, resulting in Yasuda winging the clerk in the arm.
Completely terrified, the would-be bank robber drops his gun and
flees the store, with Aikawa chasing after him looking for blood.
Just as he is about to squeeze off a round at Yasuda's head, the
clerk runs smack into Takeda (Shinichi Tsutsumi), a third-rate yazuka
to whom Aikawa owes a stack of money and who inadvertently started
a gang war through his own cowardice. Soon it becomes a three-man
race through the streets of Tokyo, with the trio's collective sanity
slowly starting to erode. Meanwhile, the dark clouds of gangland
violence build around them until the film's d้nouement. Dangan Runner
was shown in the 2000 Shooting Gallery tour under the title Non-Stop.
|