BABY ASSASSINS – Review

Due to a recent Supreme Court decision, one might be oriented towards assuming the BABY ASSASSINS title denotes a right-to-life documentary. Not even close. This is a subtitled Japanese dramedy about two teenaged girls who moonlight as hit persons. Upon graduation from high school, their bosses make them share an apartment and find regular jobs to appear like normal members of society, deflecting suspicions about how they really make a living. That sets up a Felix-and-Oscar type of pairing for sharing quarters. Awkward, with a mild touch of humor.

Akari Takaishi plays an upbeat brunette with enough charm to work at a themed restaurant that requires its waitresses to exude all the giggly girlish energy one could generate for the patrons. It makes the pressure on Jennifer Aniston to display “flair” pins with matching enthusiasm in OFFICE SPACE seem like sleepwalking. Saori Izawa is more of a tomboy in appearance, and a surly sociopath in nature. She seems to hate everything except killing, and struggles to get along with Takaishi… or anything else requiring human interaction. That makes job interviews an amusingly pointless process.

The plot focuses on their struggles to develop rounded cover identities for adulthood and bond with each other, both of which are complicated by the occasion hit-for-hire and an unfortunate clash with some Yakuza. Those unwanted foes provide most of the film’s suspense and danger. One nemesis is the psychotically perky (or perkily psychotic) daughter of the boss, who makes their demise her revenge quest. Her father and brother pose even greater threats to our young protagonists for different reasons.

Much of the running time is devoted to plot and character development. Perhaps more than their situation requires. But don’t let any impatience that might arise between the few action bits deter you from watching the rest, since it all builds to a rousing climactic confrontation that’s about as well-staged as any entries in the genre. Izawa’s resume shows more credits for stunts than acting, and this role allows her to develop in the latter while showing off her strength and agility in the former. When fighting, she brings more than enough excitement and creativity to the sequence to satisfy martial arts buffs.

There’s nothing particularly novel about the story, but writer/director Yugo Sakamoto nourishes the careers of his young stars with a vehicle that should ramp up the number of scripts they’re offered. Both have only a handful of prior roles but show promise of much more to come.

BABY ASSASSINS, in Japanese with English subtitles, will be available streaming on Hi-YAH! starting Friday, July 22, and will be released on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD on August 16.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars