Yakuza Princess
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Available at home
An orphan discovers she's the heiress to half of the Yakuza crime syndicate.
Trailer
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Yakuza Princess follows Akemi, an orphan who was sent overseas to Brazil as an infant after her father, a prominent Japanese gang boss, is killed. Twenty years later, Akemi's quiet life is upended when she discovers she is the sole heiress to half of the Yakuza crime syndicate.
"Despite 'Yakuza Princess' being a movie directed by Vicente Amorim ('Motorrad'), based on a Brazilian comic book and taking place entirely in the Liberdade neighborhood of São Paulo, the story could not be less Brazilian. After all, the plot follows the story of one of the heirs of the Yakuza who, in order to survive the war that is being waged between the Japanese gangs, forges an alliance with a strange amnesiac who believes that an ancient sword unites their two destinies. With a striking neon visual and a plot that resembles the story of 'Kill Bill', the feature film almost completely bets on aesthetics and good action scenes (the ladder scene is exceptional!) To hold the viewer. The lack of identity of the production and the exaggeratedly slow pace, trying to honor Japanese productions of the last century, may scare away some viewers who are looking for more adrenaline films. Still, it is a good example of Brazilian genre production and, without a doubt, will please those who like movies about Japanese culture and society -- with special attention to violence, reminding even more of Tarantino's film."