The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1993)
Directed by Kaizô Hayashi
Genres - Action, Adventure, Comedy |
Sub-Genres - Detective Film, Post-Noir (Modern Noir) |
Run Time - 92 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Sandra Brennan
Intrepid Japanese detective Maiku Hama is on the case in this adventure, the first of a three part comedy series. Like the Western detective character he is based on (Mike Hammer, get it?), Hama is suave, macho, and cold. Unlike his American counterpart, Hama is a total klutz. His attempts at machismo always fall flat. When he is on a case he spends more time getting beaten up than he does solving it. Hama works out of a projection booth in a Yokohama movie house. Before his clients can see him, the theater owners make them buy tickets. During his first on-screen case poor Hama must protect a Taiwanese waiter from an irate customer in a mah-jong parlor. He tries hard but ends up getting his finger cut off. He then must pry it from a dog's mouth so it can be reattached. Later the waiter hires him to locate his estranged brother. Hama takes the case and finds himself smack in the middle of a Japanese and Chinese mob war.
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Themes
Keywords
private-detective, estrangement, waiter, brother, Japanese [nationality], klutz, machismo, projectionist