Well Go USA will release Revolver Lily on digital from January 27, followed by Blu-Ray and DVD exclusively through Amazon on February 10.
It took nearly two-and-a-half years since the release of period spy thriller, Revolver Lily, to make its way to the states. I’m a little upset that it took this long because I’ve been admirable of actress Haruka Ayase for a while now after seeing a few of her works, and seeing her in a starring vehicle like this remains a selling point for anyone keen to women-led action roles.
The hangups here are very few, and some of that goes to the more incongruous moments of the story, namely moments of introspection and scenes that muddy the waters between pragmatic and supernatural planes. Those aspects are entirely open to analysis, at least in how they contribute to the story, whereas thinking about them could veer into overanalysis. Nitpicking tends to do that, which is what I was mindful of while watching, so I was more inclined to simply peel back and let the movie do the rest.
Either way, director Isao Yukisada’s take on Kyo Nagaura’s 2016 novel leaves plenty to take with you by the end credits. The film is set in 1924 and follows Yuri, a former assassin in Tokyo who sets out to investigate the alleged murder/suicide of a family she once lived with. As if she weren’t already convinced there was more to the story, she rescues Shinta (Jinsei Hamura), a young boy being violently pursued by soldiers and gangster while on a train back to Tokyo.
As the story unfolds, the two discover that they were meant to find one another, while Yuri continues her own investigation into the family with the help of a lawyer named Iwami (Hiroki Hasegawa), unraveling details involving arms sales and investments, and clever contracting that keeps the money safe until someone comes to collect. At the start of the film and with a deadline set to collect, that money – totalling up to 100 million yen or more – is now subject to whoever gets to it first between Japan’s rivaling Army and Navy forces, and – that is – whoever can get to Shinta first.
I’ve yet to see any of Ayase’s earlier works, although I have seen her in Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie, and Keishi Ohtomo’s 2023 jidaigeki, The Legend & Butterfly. She’s incredible in those films and commands the screen like a proper film star which speaks highly to her performance in Revolver Lily as a stoic ex-assassin whose attempt at life away from killing – enjoying her daily respite in Tokyo and endulging in the occasional fine dress wear from her favorite tailor – gets drastically interrupted by the aforementioned events. Hasegawa’s Iwami lends our heroine an oblique romantic arc in which his feelings go mostly unrequited in their otherwise platonic and mutual partnership.
Ultimately, in her quest to save Shinta and learn more about the family, she’s forced to confront past demons and a violent reckoning that haunts her to this day, contributing excellently to the film’s core stand off when the subject of war comes up. Yukisada, and co-writer Tatsuo Kobayashi make savvy work in Revolver Lily aptly putting a magnifying glass on the film’s leaner anti-war messaging. This is done so in part through some of the film’s supporting cast – namely Etsushi Toyokawa in a key role that helps cast more depth not only on the money, but also Yuri’s past.
That end of the story is also met with the role of Minamishi (Hiroya Shimizu) who emerges as Yuri’s past rival with a twisted fondness for her trade; It’s here in one of the film’s several areas that Yukisada blurs the line between fantasy and reality, which often leave you wondering if Minamishi is real, or just a spector of some kind. It’s crazy in a way that almost keeps you guessing.
Other scene stealers among the cast include the incomparably sadistic Itsuji Itao who plays Captain Ozawa of Japan’s Army opposite his subordinate, Kiyochika (Jesse Lewis), and Sadawo Abe who suits slightly more affable as Navy Captain Yamamoto. Actresses Kavka Shishido and Kotone Furukawa carry the mantle alongside Ayase at the forefront of much of the film’s action in the respective roles of Naka and the saccharine Kotone.
I especially love Naka’s entry into an explosive gun battle less than an hour in, which pairs her with Yuri before the guns start going off. The moment is puncuated by comedy in a healthy dose to bring some humor to a Yukisada’s dark and brooding noir, which crowns itself firmly in the heroic bloodshed vein for its climatic finale. Credit to action coordinator Yukisada Yuki and stunt director Keiya Tabuchi for putting in the work here.
If it weren’t for literary limitations, I’d say that a film like Revolver Lily would enjoy a sequel very much, or even a TV drama at that. Neither of these might be the case, however, which still leaves us with Ayase and her prospective career with Revolver Lily setting the tone with further promise and poise.
