Adrenaline Drive (1999)

Perfectly adorable

Disturbing yet enthralling

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Don't be fooled by the title. This film is in no way an "adrenaline drive." It moves slowly with the romantic comedy far apart. But thats not a reason not to watch this movie. Don't think of it as a "movie" but as a look into Japanese life. This movie centers around a rental car guy and a shy nurse. When they find a case of money they decide to run away together. But when Yakuza gang members find out they go after. This is a great movie to watch because you find out how the Japanese think and their culture. And how much similar they are to Americans in terms of how they live,their shops,etc. This is more than enough reason to watch this movie.

I saw this film in the Japanese Film Festival, here in Melbourne. I found it to be a very entertaining story of two people who are thrown together after a Yakuza den explodes. It was a love story, with comedy thrown in. I thought it was great, and well acted. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to see a light hearted love story.

Two innocents beat out a really bad guy and six stooges to take home $2,000,000 and fall in love in the process. Sounds like something we've seen 100 times, but this one has two really sweet kids that are a joy to watch. Setting this familiar plot in an unfamiliar setting helped, too. Humor ranges from more-or-less subtle to slapstick. As far as I could tell, we didn't miss much in the translation--except reading the F-word in the subtitles doesn't have the impact of hearing it in English.

Great escapism in this tale of a young milktoast car rental company driver and mousy nurse both in dire need of a boost of confidence. Through a string of unbelievable events they meet and then fall into a wealth of yakuza money. They are chased by the monstrous yakuza as well as his stooge like young henchmen. Yaguchi's themes are all here: happenstance, destiny, money, greed, finding your own identity. Oh and let's not forget his wonderful mocking of Japanese societal conventions as well as people in general. He has a sharp wit and utilizes violence to a humorous effect (such as when the yakuza hits each and every one of his henchmen with a shovel). I found this one a little toned down compared to "Hadashi No Pikkunikku" ("Down The Drain") however his style is so consistent and this one was equally entertaining if slightly less over the top. Seek this one out by all means.