Political comedy is conspicuous by its absence on Japanese TV. Where are the shows that skewer politicians in the manner of American news satires "The Colbert Report" or "The Daily Show"? One might as well as search for the habitat of the Japanese unicorn (a bird that never flew).
So Minoru Kawasaki's monster pic parody "Guilala no Gyakushu — Toyako Summit Kiki Ippatsu (Guilala's Counterattack: Lake Toya Summit Crisis)," which unfolds during the G8 summit in Hokkaido and lampoons Japanese and world leaders, deserves credit for violating the unspoken offend-no-politico rule.
The film, however, is about as satirically sharp and taboo-busting as the monomane taikai (impersonators contest) shows that are a local TV staple. That is to say, not very. The impersonators playing ex-prime ministers Koizumi and Abe (the present one, Fukuda, does not appear) nail the former's self-importance and the latter's indecisiveness to risible effect, but they soon exhaust their limited shtick. Wickedly inventive, ever-resourceful Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Borat), these guys are not.