Japanese cinema likes making feature film versions of anything remotely popular, be it novels, mangas, anime or TV shows. So it was only a matter of time before the Haruka Ayase starring “Caution, Hazardous Wife” was adapted for the big screen. Sure enough, three years since the telecast of the popular tv show, the feature film adaption came along, helmed by Toya Sato, every single of whose feature films before this have been manga or anime adaptations.
“Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie” is Screening at Fantasia International Film Festival
The quiet seaside town of Tamami is reeling from the news that a methane hydrate R&D plant is to come up off their shores. The people involved in the plant project have the government's support and see the chemical reserve there as a cash-cow, whereas the people of the town have always held the sea as something sacred and integral to the village and vehemently oppose setting the plant up. Any opposers of the project, however, meet either with mysterious deaths or are beaten up by goons.
Within Tamami lives Nami, an unassuming housewife, along with her husband Yuki, who works as a teacher. Nami, however, is hiding a secret, a secret that even she is unaware of. In reality, she is a highly trained secret agent, who lost all memories of her past after a head injury during a mission. Her husband Yuki, also a secret agent in the same agency, has been tasked with keeping an eye on her and to eliminate her if she is uncooperative once her memory returns. Therapy doesn't seem to be very effective, but things in Tamami are soon about to come to a head, leaving only the question of “when” rather than “if” Nami's instincts kick into gear.
Another day, another secret-agent-with-amnesia feature, except this time, our lead is a female. “Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie” picks up from where the tv series ended, with Nami returning home and Yuki pointing a gun to her head. This incident is written into the narrative well enough for even the uninitiated to not feel lost, ultimately adding to the overall story of the characters and taking them in a direction that fans of the series might not be familiar with.
However, this feature adaptation meanders too much around the happenings in Tamami, often losing focus that this is, before all, the story of Nami and Yuki. While it takes this time to comment on the Man vs Nature issue plaguing the world today, the fact that this takes up nearly three-quarters of the two hours running time, goes largely against the final product. Introduction of several side-characters further the feel of the story taking too long to get to where it needs to, which is a shame because when it does get there, there is enjoyment to be had.
The bickering between the couple, Nami in her element and the action sequences, which are done in a fun manner, all add brownie points to the narrative but end up being too little, too late. The fact that the chemistry between Haruka Ayase and Hidetoshi Nishijima, both reprising their roles from the TV series, only comes to life in this final quarter also works against it. Spending most time as the devoted housewife trying to figure herself out, Ayase makes for pleasing viewing, as does Nishijima as the makeshift teacher with his own secret, but their bickering is where they both excel as a pair. Supporting actors come and go, including Atsuko Maeda as Nami's psychiatrist and Kenshi Okada as pub-owner Juri, but this is the Ayase and Nishijima show through and through.
Despite looking pleasant, including some lovely shots of the seaside town thanks to Katsumi Yanagajima's cinematography, and the always watchable Haruki Ayase, “Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie” takes a very long route around to its destination, ultimately making the ride feel like a chore. Some ideas sadly do work only in the episodic format capped around the 50 minutes runtime and this production is an excellent example of the same.
