Revolver Lily: Haruka Ayase’s Action Breakout

In 99 out of 100 movies a character in Yuri Ozone’s courtesan-esque business would be portrayed as a victim of men, especially in early 1920s Japan. This film is the “one,” because Ozone is still number one with a bullet. She developed a whole different skillset while assigned to her lover’s assassination squad, stationed abroad. Consequently, the Japanese Army will have its hands full trying to abduct the innocent boy under her protection in Isao Yukisada’s Revolver Lily, which releases today on VOD.

Fortuitously, young Shinta Hosomi runs into Ozone on a train, just as the Army pounces on him. As it happens, his recently murdered father told him to find Ozone in her house of “hospitality.” She doesn’t recognize Kinya Hosomi’s name, but she knows the face in the newspaper article. Years ago, the late Hosomi ran her clandestine cell. He was also the father of her baby, who was murdered by their enemies.

Like a lot of contemporary CIA guys, Hosomi went from espionage to high finance. He had managed a hugely speculative investment fund for the Army, who are desperately short of funds under the current feckless government. However, Hosomi understood the warmongering generals would eagerly flip his high yields into more military adventurism. Consequently, he plundered their accounts, parking them in the equivalent of a “dead man’s” account, which is due to expire and revert to the bank of deposit in seven days.

In addition to guns, Ozone also has a lawyer. Yoshiaki Iwami is a respected councilor, who clearly carries a torch for her. He is also a former Navy man. His former colleagues are not immune to the corruption endemic amongst their Army rivals, but they have far less appetite for war. (To be clear, we’re talking about the Taisho Era Japanese service branches.)

In fact, that service rivalry adds an intriguing new spin to the film, which might otherwise play like a period gender-swap of Leon: Th Professional. Still, there is plenty of fan-pleasing action, executed with the passion and precision of ballet. Truly, the fight scenes, coordinated by Yasutaka Yuki are no joke. Honestly, every three or four years, Hollywood breaks its collective arm patting itself on the back for casting a female action lead in a movie like Ballerina, but it happens all the time in Asian cinema.

Regardless, Haruka Ayase delivers the goods. Frankly, she looks unusually elegant for an action star, but her withering stare and hardnosed demeanor are pure genre gold. Hiroki Hasegawa also nicely develops Iwami into much more than just a naïve nice guy. In fact, he plays a critical part in expressing the film’s anti-war themes. It is worth noting in passing, neither the Chinese or Russian film industries would ever dare produce a film that so pointedly critiqued their own countries’ militarist histories.

Yet, when the bullets start to fly, Revolver Lily bears some stylistic resemblance to John Woo’s vintage HK Gun-Fu films. This is probably the best-looking action film of the last rolling twelve months, but style is never elevated at the expense of fan satisfaction. Very highly recommended, Revolver Lily releases today (1/27) on VOD.