Sailor Suit and Machine Gun(SERA-FUKU TO KIKANJU)

Combining a surreal coming-of-age tale and a gangster feud into one, this genre-defying and inherently absurd story of a schoolgirl-turned-yakuza boss became a smash-hit legend, emerging as a cultural phenomenon that captured the zeitgeist of ’80s Japan. Adopting a popular novel by Akagawa Jiro, Somai’s liberal yet precise camera casts on Izumi, sneaking into her teenage naivety and unwitting adult sexuality beneath her sailor suit, while exposing the youthful recklessness and revolt as she finally picks up the machine gun to avenge the violent drug cartel threatening her clan. A deserved cult classic, it created a star vehicle for Yakushimaru Hiroko, and a monumental success for Somai.

Japan Academy Film Prize: Best Sound, Most Popular Film and Most Popular Performer