Executive Koala (Koala Kacho) review

In keeping with director Minoru Kawasaki‘s running gag of injecting animals or sea life into human situations Executive Koala is, at its base, exactly what it sounds like: a koala bear working as an executive at a company. But instead of depending on that as the main joke Executive Koala purposely ignores that aspect of the character almost entirely until the latter half of the movie. People interact with him as they would any other normal person, allowing a window where Kawasaki can spoof some of the overused techniques directors tend to lean on to manufacture tension in slasher movies, murder mysteries, and thrillers. He accomplishes this to great effect, with the end result being a comedy that’s skillfully executed and, at other points, totally insane.

Besides being a furry woodland creature, Keiichi Tamura is also an up-and-coming salaryman at a pickle company in Tokyo. Recently he proposed a business agreement with a Korean kimchi manufacturer and after some tense meetings his plan is ultimately approved by the top boss of the company (who happens to be a rabbit). Unfortunately his elation is short-lived. He’s immediately approached by police detectives who inform him that his girlfriend Yoko was murdered the night before and he’s the prime suspect in the case. *cue extremely dramatic camera zoom*

Tamura of course has no memory of such an incident, as all his memories of time spent with her are happy - a few of which we get to experience through cheesy yet comical flashbacks. Still, as evidence begins to pile up against him and he’s confronted by his girlfriend’s ex-lover - who is also the representative of the kimchi business he’s been working with, he’s haunted by the possibility that he may have a sinister alter-ego buried deep in his psyche. Several plot twists follow, some meant to advance the story and others meant simply to spoof the whole idea of plot twists. Then there’s a musical number, an over-the-top fight scene, and a melodramatic death(?) scene between two former rivals to round things out before the entire disastrous string of events reaches its unlikely-yet-appropriate conclusion.

Executive Koala differs from most of Kawasaki’s previous work in its approach to comedy. Instead of hamming it up with purposely bad acting to sell the fact that it’s a comedy most of the performances are taken seriously without even a hint of goofiness. Hironobu Nomura is particularly good in his role as the suspicious detective stalking Tamura at every turn. This subtlety (and yes, I use that term very loosely) makes the individual spoof elements more effective but could also scare off the casual fan that checks this out for the “wacky kaiju flick” factor. And while there is a hefty dose of that, especially toward the end, this movie is generally more about pointing out absurdity than creating it.

Watch trailer

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Availability: US distributor Synapse Films released "Executive Koala" on region 1 DVD with English subtitles on November 18, 2008. Picture quality is very clean and on par with the original Japanese DVD. The disc also includes a 40-minute making of featurette filled with lots of funny little moments between the cast and crew. For full specs, see this link.

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Tags: arthur kuroda chika kunmada eiichi kikuchi elli rose executive koala hideki saijo hironobu nomura hitomi takashi lee ho minoru kawasaki ryu hairken