Outsider (Netflix)

[Mad Jax]

Kind of a niche film but certainly to my tastes. Boiling it down, it's a post WWII film set in Osaka that shows a lost American veteran reclaim his honor and gain a sense of family by serving the Yakuza. I'm not sure how popular that will be with this crowd, but I enjoyed the film well enough. Possible cons; could do little better with the accuracy of the military elements, Jared Leto has a track record that could put people off, and I suppose it could be accused of being a "white savior" film. Only the first of those bothers me, really. It always needles me when they get military stuff wrong. And I would have probably enjoyed them just having a regular guy raised in Japan join the Yakuza, but I get that it needs to be a fish-out-of-water story for most Netflix subscribers. Plus Jared Leto redeemed himself for me with Bladerunner 2049, and his performance is good in this.

I give this a recommend, despite focusing on the flaws so far, because I get a strong sense of the importance of honor, loyalty, and duty, and the terrible price paid for them that permeates the Nipponese culture. I know the "Samurai ethos" is a bit overstated by popular culture but I don't think the film overdoes it, and at any rate, I found it pretty engaging. Something different and I think there's an element here that would really enjoy it.

[RubinHighlander]

I also thought Jared Leto did a good job in Bladerunner. I'll put this one on my watch list. Thanks for the review.