Directed by Hugo Sakamoto
Baby Assassins, directed by Hugo Sakamoto, is a fun Japanese Action comedy that I got to check out during the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. It has good action scenes but the best part of the film are the comedy sequences that is full of laughter and guts.
The film is about two highly trained teenage assassins who may not be old enough to drive but they have a high kill count. The assassination agency they work for has a mandate; before they turn 20, they must get normal jobs as cover and pay for their own apartment, food and live together as roommates. Even though both assassins have nothing in common, you get from this odd couple shenanigans; then you get an odd couple situation alongside shootout and close quarters fights. Along the way the way this two assassins anger a local Yakuza syndicate.
The Baby Assassins are Mahido (Saori Izawa), a complete introvert that finds it easier killing people than trying to do a job interview. We get the best action and comedy from her character for BABY ASSASSINS as her interaction with customers at work is hilarious as she knows she is a sociopath and struggles with getting along with people. At the same time, she is great at hand to hand fighting and takes part in amazing fights in this film. Chirato (Akari Takaishi) is the complete opposite, though. She is outgoing and it’s easy for her to ace an interview and get a job. Her weakness are her assassination skills are not as good as Mahido. Their mundane life of trying to get a job comes to a screeching halt when they cross a Yakuza syndicate trying to extort their current job.
BABY ASSASSINS may not have a lot of action in this film as they concentrate primarily on the comedy of two teenage assassins that have to learn to live as roommates with low wage jobs. When it does have action it’s intense. The battle at the end of the movie is worth the prize alone of this film. One thing though that confused me is their stuff from Japanese culture that I didn’t understand but that may work better for the demographic.
BABY ASSASSINS is now available on streaming and Blu Ray.