By Asia Samachar | Movie Review |
If you’re crime obsessed, then you would have seen Giri/Haji series released in 2019. But if you have somehow missed it, then its time to get underway with the eight-part series jointly produced by the BBC and Netflix.
It’s a thrilling crime drama with scenes taking place in South Korea and British. It’s brilliant the way the director mergers simultaneous happenings in Seoul and London. There’s the gang fight, and the funeral. The drive in Britain, and the next scene is the drive in Korea. Seamlessly done.
Giri/Haji (translated to Duty/Shame in English) is a fast moving thriller but comes to a screeching speed at just the right moments, allowing the moments to sink in.
In London, a yakuza in the employ of boss Shin Endo (Katsuya Kobayashi) is murdered with a ceremonial sword that belongs to rival godfather Fukuhara (Masahiro Motoki). Retaliation in Tokyo follows, thus shattering the fragile peace between the underworld gangs.
The crime thriller-drama follows detective Kenzo (Takehiro Hira) who sets out in search of his missing younger brother after they’re separated by a killing. There, he meets London-based Met Police detective Sarah, played by Bafta nominee Kelly Macdonald.
The series unravels, layer by layer, the complex relationship of key characters. There’s a Yazuka gangster who’s married to a Yazuka leader’s daughter. He’s on the run. He has much blood on his hands. And there’s his brother, a police officer. He, too, is entangled in a complicated relationship. He has a wife in Japan, but love is brewing in London.
Then, there’s Rodney, a gay who’s ‘doing too many class A drugs’. He has a way of injecting fun and amusement into the otherwise serious movie. But Rodney is the also the source for bleak emptiness. He mourns the death of a lover whom he could never connect.
The 8-part series, filled with murder, blood, drugs and sex, has well written dialogues, allowing you to beak into laughter along the way.
Be prepared for the twist towards the end of the story. Not in the storyline, but in the presentation.
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