Fridae

The first Bayside Shakedown film was a huge hit in Japan
way back in 1998. It was a cop show, but unlike your typical Hollywood
cop blockbuster featuring big guns and explosions, Bayside
depicted small-time police officers dealing with minor cases of
theft and misbehaviour, while struggling with the massive paperwork
and bureaucracy of typical Japanese organisations.

Don't ask us why the film did so well at the box-office. Presumably,
huge populations of Japanese salarymen who work 9-to-5 could identify
with the down-to-earth characters — just as they could with
the bored office worker in that other 1990s Japanese hit, Shall
We Dance?.

This Bayside sequel returns Yuji Oda and Eri Fukatsu to
their roles as low-ranking detectives trying to solve a series of
murders. For some reason, despite the film's obsessive attention
to procedural details, it is not as dull as it sounds. Its understated
human drama, small comic moments and realistic dialogue keep it
watchable.