Takashi Miike

[analogzombie]

Audition was one of those films for me that i decided to invest myself in and was gladly reqarded. The way that mIike weaves this very benign slow story into a hellish nightmare is exceptional. I can honestly say that it is the first film I have watched through my hands since I was 8.

The first time I watched Ichi i found the pacing bad and that it was just one gimmicky shock after another. It seemed way too over-the-top on the violence scale and just sophmorically gross. But upon further viewings I got into the very comdeic underside of the film. Once I got past the gore I realized its a very very funny movie. And although it is vicious in a lot of scenes it's not as if Miike was just trying to do a gross out. he balances those scenes with laughter so it never quite becomes unwatchably vulgar.

For the most disturbing scene in any Miike movie is the dog porno readiness scene in Bead or Alive. What has Miike got against dogs anyway? There is that scene in DOA, the scene in Audition and they talk about violence to dogs in Ichi. Is it perhaps that Miike is just exploiting our acceptance of violence against humans and abhorrance of violence against domesticated pets?

[The Perineum Falcon]

The first time I watched Ichi i found the pacing bad and that it was just one gimmicky shock after another. It seemed way too over-the-top on the violence scale and just sophmorically gross. But upon further viewings I got into the very comdeic underside of the film. Once I got past the gore I realized its a very very funny movie. And although it is vicious in a lot of scenes it's not as if Miike was just trying to do a gross out. he balances those scenes with laughter so it never quite becomes unwatchably vulgar.

I kinda wanted to check out Ichi, but I've heard bad reviews and have decided not to waste my time with it.
Visitor Q is a great film and is similar to your description of Ichi. It takes extremely taboo subjects and makes them funny. Sometimes I couldn't believe I was laughing. I don't know if it stands up to repeated viewings though. I tried watching it a second time and wasn't as amused.

[analogzombie]

Visitor Q is ne that's on my 'to watch' list, as are the rest of his movies. i find Miike's work fascinating while utterly boring at the same time, weird but I can't describe it any other way. ichi is worth a rental and two viewings, just to digest it all. Heck, the title sequence alone is worth a NetFlix rental.

[citizenaniki]

Fudoh was my 1st Miike experience and I have been hooked ever since.  I have now seen about 25 of his films now and overall he is quite the film maker.

if you can see Blues Harp, Graveyard of Honor (remake of Kinji Fukasaku's film) and Bird People in China.

Oh, and for any Takeshi Kitano fans that don't already know, Takashi Miike directed Kitano in of of his newest films, IZO, so keep an eye out.

[Weak2ndAct]

Layin' it down MacG style...

Here's Variety's review of Miike's new flick.  Sounds great!

ONE MISSED CALL

In his first pic since "Audition" that doesn't look as if it was put together during a spare weekend, Nipponese pulpmeister Takashi Miike mines the Asian psychothriller vein to fine effect in "One Missed Call." Blatantly hitching a ride on the Japanese "Ring" and South Korean "Phone," with copious refs to "Dark Water," film combines scares and chuckles with good production values, making this a quality pickup for Asian-oriented distribs with ancillary labels attached. Local biz since mid-January has been way above the Miike norm, grossing $10 million in its first month, partly thanks to popular actress-singer Kou Shibasaki.
Shibasaki, who played the sadistic bitch-on-wheels in "Battle Royale," here plays the nice-but-disturbed Yumi Nakamura, who has some kind of phobia (explained only later on) linked with peepholes. At a restaurant, her friend, Yoko, gets a call with a strange ringing tone. The cell phone display tells Yoko the call came from her own number, dated three days hence; it contains just a spooky scream. Exactly 72 hours later, Yoko gets the same call and plunges off a railway bridge.

Yumi finds out from some schoolgirls that one of their group also died the same way, and that the deadly call is said to come from "a woman who died, full of hate." When another friend, Kenji, is sucked into an elevator shaft, and one more, Natsumi (Kazue Fukiishi), gets the same advance call, Yumi starts to be concerned. It seems the dead woman's spirit transfers itself from victim to victim through their cells' phonebooks.

To this point, film has largely played as a straight-arrow psychothriller, with only the occasional hint -- one scene where Yoko's severed arm punches out a text message on her cell -- of Miike's usual extreme playfulness. But when the panicked Natsumi agrees to go on a trashy TV show that will be broadcast at the exact time of her flagged death, the movie becomes a much tastier blend of shocks, satire and suspense.

Third act is focused wholly on Yumi, who has hooked up with a funeral director, Hiroshi (Shinichi Tsutsumi), who's trying the solve the riddle of the death of his sister, found with a red candy in her mouth. The solution to the entire saga lies in Yumi's own past.

Film loses some its juice in the overlong finale, redolent of "Dark Water," in which Yumi and Hiroshi do battle with the evil spirit. But for much of the going, Miike juggles the Asian psychothriller portfolio (elevators, clock hands, vengeful ghosts, buried family traumas) with gleeful skill. The beautiful, lynx-eyed Shibasaki makes an OK heroine, without ever being called on to really act. Visual f/x are fine -- especially inventive in Natsumi's death. At Berlin screening caught, audience responded with several genuine cries of shock, rare nowadays.

Camera (color), Hideo Yamamoto; editor, Yasushi Shimamura; music, Koji Endo; art director, Hisao Inagaki; sound (Dolby Digital), Atsushi Nakamura. Reviewed at Berlin Film Festival (Forum), Feb. 14, 2004. Running time: 111 MIN.

[FooBoy]

I've only seen Audition and Ichi The Killer. Liked Audition, didn't like Ichi.

[phil marlowe]

something really messed up happened to me yesterday. i saw visitor q

one of the funniest movies i have ever seen

[MacGuffin]

Title: Young Thugs Innocent Blood / Nostalgia
Starring: Koji Chihara
Released: 28th October 2004
SRP: $24.99

Further Details
Artsmagic recently announced plans to release two of Takashi Miike's Young Thugs titles, they are: Young Thugs Innocent Blood and Young Thugs Nostalgia. Both releases are unrated, all region NTSC discs and feature a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. Again, both have scene selection, filmographies, original trailers and an exclusive interview with Takashi Miike. With Young Thugs Innocent Blood there's a documentary entitled Osaka History and Culture, whist on the Young Thugs Nostalgia the documentary is Osaka People.

[The Perineum Falcon]

Has anyone seen Sabu? If you rent from Blockbuster, and if your blockbuster is anything like mine, don't be misled by the label "Unsuitable for children under 17" 'cause apparently, no one watches the films before they label it.

"Another by Miike? It MUST be nasty!"

Of course, even without that sticker, I'd probably have thought the same thing myself. But Sabu is a jidai-geki and adaptation of a (popular??) coming of age novel by Shugoro Yamamoto. It was a tv-movie and hardly violent. A few fists to the face, but it's kept realistic (I suppose) and, in comparison to some of his other films, rather bloodless.
There's nothing taboo here or anything remotely offensive. It's a tale of two friends who love the same woman and the trials and tribulations they get themselves into, yada yada yada.
I could be off alittle, though. Apparently when I was watching this I was a) extremely tired and lacked all ability to focus, or 2) I've fallen into that horrible American prejudice of "they all look alike." I swear Sabu and his friend switched actors halfway through and resulted in confusing the snot out of me. I wasn't the same for the rest of the movie as I was trying to figure out how I got confused.
I usually love the Japanese period dramas, but for some reason I found this kind of boring. Maybe it was because I was expecting rough and tumble samurai ginsu-ing each other into a thousand pieces.

*shrug*

Not the usual Miike fare, but decent none-the-less.

[Weak2ndAct]

I finally got to see 'One Missed Call,' and my thoughts definitely echo the variety review I posted above.  Considering the story and rehashing of soooo many elements (I mean seriously, it's Ringu, but with cell phones), there is absolutely no reason why this movie should be any good.  This movie is a blatant Ringu/Phone/Grudge/Dark Water wannabe in every respect-- and it smashingly works.  Consider me shocked.  Each act takes it's own spin: 1st is very Final Destination, you see the young picked off one by one.  Act 2 is the tv-show segment, which is a definite highlight (Miike dropped the ball in one respect, what happens on the show should have caused mass hysteria, but I digress).  Act 3 is the mystery/confrontation of the ghost/cause and here he really pulls out all the stops.  Every trick in the book comes out, and the movie just does not let up.  Tons of scares, tons of surprises-- totally bonkos.  And despite my reservations about the whole cell-phone angle (how can a Nokia be scary, exactly?), surprise surprise, Miike finds a way...

[modage]

i've only just seen Audition.  where do i go from here?  can any miike fans recommend my the next few best movies i can see?

[Weak2ndAct]

I'm probably the person to ask, considering I own a shitload of them, and have seen most others (sooooo many are finally getting R1 releases).

Must see:
Ichi the Killer
Happiness of the Katakuris
Dead or Alive
Vistor Q
Fudoh: The New Generation

All of the above have US releases and are unrated (albeit, some flicks are harder to find than others).  'Gozu,' is coming to dvd in a few weeks, I missed that so I'll blind buy it.  I hear 'Zebraman' is great too.

[Ghostboy]

All of those are great (except for Fudoh, which I haven't seen), but I'd put extra emphasis on Happiness Of The Katakuris and Visitor Q, which are my favorites. I can't wait for Gozu. I was pissed it never opened outside of the coasts.

[Weak2ndAct]

Saw 'Graveyard of Honor' today, which I guess is a remake of Fukasaku's film that I keep meaning to see.  It's an amusing movie in one respect: this film features the most spectacularly unsympathetic main character ever.  It's shocking.  The lead is a dishwasher who foils a hit on a yakuza boss not b/c he cares, but b/c the hitman is causing a ruckus (and oh yeah, the assassin is Miike himself, blasting people 2-gun-slo-mo-Woo-style!).  The dishwasher is instantly brought into the family as an 'uncle,' much to the dismay of others, and there the real trouble starts:

- Uncle invites a woman on a date, then rapes her.
- Uncle hacks up a man who welched on a debt, then shows up at the woman's window and rapes her again.
- Uncle goes to prison and makes a friend, but then when he gets out, he systematically destroys every relationship he has, and horribly exploits his only friend.
- Uncle gets hooked on heroin and kills everyone for all the wrong reasons.

See what I mean?  Ultimately, you can't say this is a great film and respect yourself in the morning.  While there are several entertaining bits (if you make it to the ending, there are some spectacular death scenes), the lead is so damned deplorable, all you can do is sit back and watch the mayhem unfold.  Sure, there are some points made about the downfall of the economy at the time, and the absurdity of honor and yakuza mannerisms... but still... goddamn!  More absurd: when a decent disc is finally released, I know I'll end up buying it just to fill my Miike collection (as of today, I picked up #20!).

[classical gas]

I saw "Happiness Of The Katakuris" (quite a while ago) and it was completely insane, great.  So have I seen his best film and will only be dissapointed by his others?  Are they all so creatively over the top and...surreal, maybe?