Itami's real power as a director is to suggest that people are, in fact, much the same everywhere and that anarchy rathe than order is what unites them under the skin.

Tighter than [Itami's] first film, The Funeral, and better constructed than Tampopo, The Taxing Woman drives relentlessly forward, mixing social satire with action and sex, if anything piling it a bit too much for one film.

In this, his third helter-skelter satire on modern Japanese mores, Itami turns his witty attention to the subject of money, with tighter construction and deeper characterisation making it his most entertaining yet.

Dares to ask how much of a bastard does a villain need to be to make us root for a tax auditor.