Before being widely known through his two “Baby Assassins” movies, Yugo Sakamoto has also shot a grittier, somewhat darker movie, “The Janitor”, who still implements, though, the chaotic narrative approach his later movies included.
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The titular character is actually Akira Fukami, a man whose father was murdered and was taken in by his sworn blood brother, Majima, a yakuza leader who trained Fukami into becoming his most formidable assassin. As the movie begins, and as a side job, the young man poses as a janitor in a high school where Majima's daughter, Yui is attending, secretly functioning as her bodyguard. Despite some issues here and there, his life proceeds smoothly, until Majima announces that he wants to take his business to Hong Kong. This enrages one of the underbosses, Nishimori, who immediately starts plotting to have him killed, using Fukami, to whom he reveals a secret regarding his father's end. Eventually, other players also get involved, with an unlikely Mr Honda having a key role, and all the chaos culminates into a showdown in the aforementioned high school.
Much like “Baby Assassins”, the effort to induce the movie with drama does not work particularly well, especially since a number of characters, and particularly Nishimori, act like caricatures in a way that moves more towards slapstick comedy. As such, the concept of fatherhood, although somewhat intriguingly embedded in the narrative, through both Akira and Yui's relationship with Majima, as much as the one of revenge, essentially feel forced.
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Thankfully, the rest of the individual elements of the movie are quite good, starting with the characters, and particularly the secondary ones. Mr Honda for example, as much as his “assistant” are hilariously surprising in the role they eventually take in the movie, in a deadpan approach that definitely adds to the entertainment the film offers. Tomoya Maeno is rather fun to watch in the role, in probably the most memorable performance here. Wataru Ichinose is once more quite imposing every time he appears on screen. Furthermore, as soon as the showdown begins, the whole movie picks up, both due to the different individuals Akira has to face and the action itself. The body builder, the killer who will simply not die, the buffoon duo, but most of all, Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa who play the roles that probably inspired Sakamoto to use the same actresses in “Baby Assassins” and participate in one of the most memorable and brutal fight of the whole movie, end up making the whole thing worthwhile.
In that fashion, the stunts by Masayoshi Deguchi and the whole action choreography emerges as the movie's best trait, with DP Tojiro Kurita taking advantage of the school setting in the best fashion, in order to make them more brutal and entertaining. The editing results in a pace that starts somewhat slowly, with the flashbacks being occasionally disorienting, but definitely picks up in the last part, again finding its apogee in the cuts during the various fights.
Seiji Fukushi may not be particularly good in the dramatic scenes, but as the cool, silent, and eventually desperate young man definitely delivers, with the movie benefiting the most by his fighting abilities. Haruka Imou as Yui has her moments, particularly when she gets angry, although her character could have been written better.
In the end, “A Janitor” despite the effort to be something more, is a genuine action film, where the whole narrative essentially works towards bringing us to the final showdown. As such, and since the action scenes are equally diverse and intricate, it ends up being a movie that fans of the category will definitely enjoy.
