I think most of us, at one time or another, have dreamt of escaping from our everyday boring humdrum lives. Travelling the world and doing lots of exciting and fun/dangerous things. The clash between suburban ennui and a secret personality is one which pervades popular culture, from superheroes to undercover spies. The latter most successfully in The Americans or Mr and Mrs Smith. It becomes a different dynamic completely in Caution Hazardous Wife: The Movie.
The quiet coastal town of Tamami seems like a sleepy and idyllic backwater. However, trouble is afoot with plans to build a methane hydrate processing plant and the locals are not happy. Nami (Haruka Ayase) is struggling to be the perfect housewife whilst here husband Yuki (Hidetoshi Nishijima) works for an IT company. After suffering a head injury, she still can’t remember the past but is starting to have the most unusual dreams…
Based on a popular TV series, Caution Hazardous Wife: The Movie is an entertaining and endearing action comedy. It works so well due to an appealing and likeable cast. It’s also smartly written, mixing many recognisable elements into the pot, but obviously loses some of the detail due to the constraints of the shorter format. However, Tôya Satôs’s self-contained movie is a blast and these are characters you’ll be happy to spend time with again.
Caution Hazardous Wife: The Movie screened at Fantasia International Film Festival.
