Wasabi

The title comes from a scene: at a Japanese restaurant Hubert Fiorentini eats a whole serving of wasabi without flinching. Luc Besson wrote the screenplay and produced the film through his own company, EuropaCorp, while Gérard Krawczyk directed. In France the title carried a subtitle underneath it, the little mustard that gets right up your nose. Ryoko Hirosue did not speak a word of French and learned her lines phonetically. Shooting did not stay in Tokyo either: the Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, Narita airport and Paris were all used. Eric Serra wrote the score. The opening did not go to plan. In France the film came second behind American Pie 2, then climbed to the top of the chart in its second week. It took 6.7 million dollars at home and 10.4 million worldwide. Reviewers split; Roger Ebert gave it 1.5 stars out of 4 and wrote that Reno does what he can in a thankless situation. A good fit if you want Tokyo chases and the joke of a father who never tells the girl who he is. Not for anyone who cannot get past the opening: the film introduces Hubert by having him punch a drag performer in the face at a nightclub and drag her out in handcuffs, and the only consequence is paid leave.