The Movie: The Fable / ザ・ファブル
The Director: Kan Eguchi
The Cast: Jun'ichi Okada, Fumino Kimura, Koichi Sato, Mizuki Yamamoto, Ryo Kimura
The Story: An legendary assassin from Tokyo is forced to live as a normal person in Osaka for one year without killing anyone.
The Review:
When I sat down to watch this movie, I hadn't realized that it is mostly a comedy and a really good one at that. On the surface, this movie looks like a spin on the John Wick franchise and yes there are a lot of similarities but director Kan Eguchi takes the Gun Fu assassin story in a completely different and refreshingly fun direction. I suppose I would best describe this by saying it is a John Wick movie made by Takashi Miike and that, to me, is a very high compliment.
Most of the comedy comes from Jun'ichi Okada's brilliantly deadpan performance that is punctuated by brief moments of hilarity which will catch you off guard and leave you in stitches. For most of the movie, Okada is side by side with Fumino Kimura's character who is about as cute and funny as you could ever want a sidekick to be yet she also holds a few secrets of her own. Opposite the two heroes, there is a whole lot of villainy and a seemingly endless roster of bad guys who are trying to knock off the legendary and fabled assassin while he tries to lay low.
Eguchi does a great job mixing action and comedy, sneaks in a bit of a love story, and leaves the world wide open for if he ever wants to go back. I could definitely see The Fable becoming a successful action comedy franchise and I would be here for all of it. Oh and if you weren't aware the movie is adapted from Katsuhisa Minami's popular manga.
The Fable is an official selection of the 2019 Hawaii International Film Festival.
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