Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: TATSUMI [Fantasia Film Festival 2024 - Montreal, Quebec]

The intensity of the Yakuza world comes to bear in “Tatsumi” [North American Premiere] but it uses the impetuousness of a young 18-year- old bent on revenge with a bit of psychotic energy to fuel its pace. The film itself is named after a young Yakuza soldier keyed. Into the context of leadership with both an understanding of the darkness within him but enough perspective to understand the path he must follow Aoi, the girl in question, doesn’t listen to him for the most part but she is willing to commit to a path though it at some point becomes more of a nihilistic exercise than she would admit. The film is brutal in its violence bit mostly does so to show the normalcy of the acts it is portraying.

One assassin in particular shows no fear of death and yet his path shows a weakness. Even the Yakuza czar, soft spoken by comparison, understands the need for the hatchet in many ways. The film keeps moving towards a place it knows it has to go but it is interesting what the aspect of sacrifice might mean in this world. Tatsumi is a mentor perhaps not in the traditional sense but one that makes his charge think (at least for a millisecon) in what she might be doing without considering the consequences. “Tatsumi” is a film of path, perhaps a bit brutish and on the nose but it does know itself. B+

By Tim Wassberg