The Outsider Review: 3 Ups & 7 Downs

1. It Mostly Ignores Its Historical Context

Perhaps the most baffling thing about this movie is how it almost completely ignores the historical context of its setting. Taking place in post-war Japan, the shadow cast by the end of the war is totally glossed over, as is Nick's adversarial place in the country (and the Yakuza) as a result.

Yes, there are references made to Nick being a "gaijin", but generally the film is happy to touch on this in only the most facile means possible, making all those "whitewashing" accusations seem that much more accurate.

Apart from the occasional line of dialogue or visual, the movie could easily be set in the modern day, which makes the period setting feel like a total waste. There's depressingly little desire to mine the politics or attitudes of the era, so why even bother with it?

The Outsider is not a good film, clearly, but it does have a few bright spots, so here's what it got right...