Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl (Samehada Otoko to Momojiri Onna, 1999)

Now rating as one of the most awesome movies I have ever seen, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl opens as a maid at a low rent motel is being urged by a coworker, who has just now quit, to follow suit and leave that stale, remote hotel. Toshiko, the maid (a wonderful Sie Kohinata) is likes what she hears but is reluctant because it would mean abandoning her uncle Michio, who runs the joint. Shortly thereafter Toshiko discovers her uncle has "invested" her personal savings (as he has control over her finances for some reason...), she packs a bag and climbs out a window — leaving her uncle to waste away with his precious motel.

Cut to a guy named Kuroo Samehada (Tadanobu Asano) who has just stolen a serious amount  of money from the yakuza (which I take he now was a part of) and is currently being tracked to, but now chased from, a cabin in the woods where he's hold up. He flees the scene in little more than his tighty-whiteys. Now cut back to Toshiko fleeing the hotel life. Who should she run into? You guessed it.

Leadership by example.

Katsuhito Ishii's Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl if funny, quirky, action–packed and has wit and style to spare. It also features one of the most unique gang of characters I have ever witnessed. From the salaryman yakuza boss (Susumu Terashima) who collects rare soft drink tins, to his overly style–conscious ingrate son who employs his nose like a dog and is petrified that his bullet-proof white leather coat will get dirty or wet. Add in a trio of hapless wanna-be hangers-on, and a gut–busting gay assassin (Tatsuya Gashuin) who's hired by Michio to retrieve his niece. All this and a full cast of ill-mannered associates. How could you go wrong, I ask?