SABU's second film perhaps doesn't learn from some of the naivety of his debut. 'Dangan Ranna' starts off with an interesting premise, though as the film gets towards its conclusion, it starts to fall off. Like 'Monday' coming after it, the idea is a satire of modern life, though by 'Monday', SABU had matured into a more rounded filmmaker, whereas with this 1997 effort, there were still some areas that required some work. Sawaki is a postman, hence the title, bored of his life and his role as society's servant. Working late, he unwittingly stumbles across his former classmate, now yakuza, Noguchi as he performs that age- old yakuza ritual to atone for his errors. Noguchi tells Sawaki of how his yakuza lifestyle gives him daily excitement, which Sawaki has long since lost. Taking heed of Noguchi's words, Sawaki then drinks himself into a drunken stupor, tearing up undelivered letters, stealing any money he finds and reading people's most personal letters. Though unbeknownst to him, Noguchi snuck a brick of naughty powder into his postman bag, causing the police to follow him, believing him to be a drug runner. It's from this point that Sawaki's life gets a little daily excitement back in it. The first half an hour is relatively dark with brief moments of laughter, creating the negative portrait of Sawaki's life and the role of the postman in society. It's all very bleak. Though when the police become involved, with their over-the-top and unfounded suspicions regarding his dull life, the film has a more mainstream feel, part- love story, part foolish comedy. It's here, much like 'Dangan Ranna', with the introduction of further characters that the film starts to become a little confused and, at times, a little silly. I always find that the funniest films are those that are largely serious, though throw in light moments here and there to show that they're not taking themselves too seriously. 'Dangan Ranna' and 'Monday' are successful in being humorous in this way. Though in 'Postman Blues' there are more deliberate attempts to be funny, and as a result, the film is less funny overall, in the way that Kitano's 'Hana-bi' is more humorous than his comedy 'Getting Any?''Postman Blues', therefore, isn't quite as charming as SABU's other early efforts, though it clearly tries to be. His love interest in cancer patient, Sayoko, has moments, but also feels a bit clichéd with musical montages. The bumbling police and their over- imagination as to Sawaki's life, are a satire of modern society's jumping to conclusions without any evidence, though perhaps become a little too much, as criminologists are brought in to suggest sexual perversions and a possible history of murder. Their actions then start to become inexplicable towards the end. Perhaps I'm being a little down on 'Postman Blues' though. Again, this is a film based on good ideas to explore, with moments of sadness about how the modern world works, as well as the odd funny moment and references to 'Leon' and 'Chungking Express'. 'Postman Blues' shows a filmmaker with ideas galore, though maybe needing a little more tightening in certain areas. From what I've seen of his subsequent works, lucky SABU is a director that can deliver. politic1983.blogspot.co.uk

I know, it's a kinda old movie, but I recently found this in a shop and bought it right away. Of course it's always risky to just buy a movie because you think it looks kinda cool. But not with this one. I have to say, this is probably the best Japanese movie I've ever seen. It's touching, fascinating, funny (You don't even have to be Japanese to think it's funny (And that's mostly the case)), full of action and kinda crazy too. Believe me, you've never seen anything like this before. The story is full of little twists and you really can't predict any of the things that'll happen.Of course it get's a ten out of ten from me.People, watch it! It's totally worth your time!

This film was Sabu's second, and shows many of this auteur's characteristic hallmarks: a concern with drastically ironic coincidences and misunderstandings, effective staging and a striking disregard for naturalism being chief amongst them. It was also the first time that the director used the excellent actor Shinichi Tsutsumi as his leading man. The actor was to reappear very effectively in Monday, Drive, and Unlucky Monday, his stoic face a perfect foil to the director-screenwriter's often bleak view of fate and predations of satirised Yakuza. Tsitsumi's keatonesque presence, and his various misfortunes, increasingly provide the centerpieces to Sabu's films. The weakness of Postman's Blues, to some extent, can be traced back to the fact that the dirctor has not yet found way to situate his hero best at the heart of an ironic narrative.Most of the present film's confusions take place outside of the hero's ken. Until the end, he remains unaware and is largely unaffected by the game fate is playing with his life. It creates a dissipation of effect, and despite a number of marvellous scenes, it is noticable that the most effective of them (the initial passing of the severed finger into his mailbag, his delivery of the same to the Yakuza boss; some hospital scenes and so on) directly involve Ryuichi. Away from him, the film seems to have no heart: the humour occasionally seems forced, as in the case of the Olympic cyclist sequence, and events loses focus. Sabu has not made this mistake again, and in succeeding features his leading man is conscious of the events being set in motion – an awareness adding immensely to the ironic pathos of his adventures.For a the best introduction to the crazy world of Sabu, which often reminds one of Jacques Tati writing a Fritz Lang movie, the interested viewer should seek out the marvellous Monday. Having said that, existing admirers of the director – who surely deserves a wider reputation than he has – should see this, as Sabu's misfires are twice as interesting as most other director's successes.

This unique mixture of Kurosawa, Besson´s "Leon", and Manga-influence is probably the best Japanese movie of the 90´s. Original plot, great cinematography, editing, and most of all - brilliant directing. A "CULT CINEMA" with every letter in it. (Sabu is Tarantino that Tarantino always wanted to be but can never be)