Taglines: Every sword has a story.
Yakuza Princess Movie Storyline. Set in the expansive Japanese community of Sao Paulo in Brazil – the largest Japanese diaspora in the world, Yakuza Princess follows Akemi (Masumi), an orphan who discovers she is the heiress to half of the Yakuza crime syndicate. Forging an uneasy alliance with an amnesiac stranger (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who believes an ancient sword binds their two fates, Akemi must unleash war against the other half of the syndicate who wants her dead.
The generic action flick “Yakuza Princess” starts with a bold declaration of intent: an on-screen text tells us that we’re now in São Paulo, Brazil, specifically a neighborhood that hosts “the largest Japanese community in the world.” That attention-grabbing statement promises a level of authenticity—or maybe cultural specificity—that the ensuing movie, about the heiress to a vast yakuza crime empire, does not deliver.
“Yakuza Princess” often devolves into the sort of clichés and stereotypes that would make American comic book writers of the 1970s blush, because these tropes were already tacky when they were previously ripped off from the many Japanese yakuza dramas of that period. And yet, “Yakuza Princess” is based on Samurai Shiro, a recent comic book, and it still features a lot of jive about the bygone era of chivalry and honor.
Two protagonists seek information about their respective pasts: Akemi (Masumi) wants to learn more about her grandfather, a now-dead crime boss; and Shiro (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is an amnesiac with a sword. These two stories eventually come together, but only after Akemi and Shiro meet up, discover that Shiro’s sword belonged to Akemi’s grandfather, and also learn of a decent-sized conspiracy to find and kill Akemi. The Japanese mob is at war with itself in São Paulo, though it’s often hard to understand why there and why now based solely on “Yakuza Princess.”
Yakuza Princess is a Brazilian action thriller film directed by Vicente Amorim, with an screenplay by Amorim, Fernando Toste, Kimi Lee and Tubaldini Shelling, based on the graphic novel Samurai Shiro by Danilo Beyruth. The film stars Masumi, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Eijiro Ozaki, and Kenny Leu. The film was released on September 3, 2021 in the United States by Magnet Releasing.
Director’s Statement
Yakuza Princess is a thriller with a very strong emotional drive. This drive is powered by Akemi, who comes of age while having to learn how to fight (quite literally) and becoming who she was always meant to be.
The film showcases a very complex, broken, family dynamic, with themes such as identity and belonging, the longing for (and rejection of) a fatherfigure as pivot points around which we see her trajectory unfold. The Yakuza Princess brings strong Japanese elements from the jidaigeki tradition of masters such as Mizoguchi or Kurosawa, the vibrant aesthetics of animes such as Akira and the violence derived from the new Ronin classics by Takashi Miike and Takeshi Kitano. As in those films, no punches are pulled.
The Japanese neighborhood’s settings in São Paulo play a major role in the choreography of chases, fights and shootouts. Brazil’s own clique of the Yakuza, its corrupt police, and its own brand of domestic violence are present in the fringes of a greater, very elaborate, action canvas that will be grounded in the character’s traits and will lead their arcs.
The sword heightens the film’s supernatural tone. The Muramasa is at the heart of the quest Akemi has to go through. It is a cursed, blood-thirsty weapon, that when wielded by Akemi transforms her into a killing machine and, nonetheless, helps her bridge the gap into fulfilling her destiny, even if it has a (very) dark side to it.
In a movie where no one is really who they seem to be, we tell the story through reflections, transparencies and layers that veil and disguise the characters’ every move. We have built a desaturated version of the 90s neon noir, without its corny excesses.
On one hand, we are welcome by a sense of familiarity and, on the other, like Akemi herself, we’ll be waking from a long nightmare – one that we do not control, one that only Akemi can end with the power she discovers to have when the Muramasa (the cursed samurai sword) is in her hands.
Yakuza Princess (2021)
Directed by: Vicente Amorim
Starring: Masumi, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Eijiro Ozaki, Kenny Leu, Mariko Takai, Charles Paraventi, Toshiji Takeshima, Lucas Oranmian
Screenplay by: Fernando Toste, Kimi Lee
Production Design by: Daniel Flaksman
Cinematography by: Gustavo Hadba
Film Editing by: Danilo Lemos
Costume Design by: Cristina Kangussu
Art Direction by: Daniel Flaksman
Music by: Lucas Marcier, Fabiano Krieger
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence, some language and graphic nudity.
Distributed by: Magnet Releasing
Release Date: September 3, 2021
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