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.
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