Blog Archives

Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (2006)

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Posted on May 22, 2006 by Christian

A current output of two feature films a year must feel like a holiday for workaholic director Miike Takashi, who pumped out an astonishing total of seven features in 2001 alone. If you do the maths — at that time in 2001, this equalled Wong Kar-wai’s output of feature films for his entire 13-year career since his first film in 1988. Despite his output, Takashi has not been content to stick to a particular genre and has tackled family dramas … (read more)

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Izo (2004)

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Posted on May 20, 2006 by Ben Jennings

I like pointless carnage as much as the next person, which is why my reaction to this movie surprises me so much. I would not have thought it possible that such a relentlessly gory movie could be so dull. This is not a moral objection at all, you must understand. It’s just… well, it’s so boring even Takeshi Kitano can’t revive it. Izo gives gratuitous violence a bad name.

A change of pace for prolific weirdo maestro Takashi Miike, Izo… (read more)

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Ichi the Killer (2001)

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Posted on January 25, 2006 by Alison

Remember the old architect sketch from Monty Python? A group of Masons offer a tender for an apartment building, and one of the architects presents designs for a slaughterhouse, justifying it thus: “This is not just a slaughterhouse. There’s no blood caked on the walls and flesh flying out of the windows incommoding passers-by with this one!”

That is so, so, not Ichi The Killer. There is blood caked on the walls. And the only reason there’s no … (read more)

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DOA & DOA2 (1999)

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Posted on January 25, 2006 by Ching Yee

After the quiet reflective tone of Sandy Lives, I was jolted into hyper reality by this Miike Takashi double trouble celluloid gross fest.

My only other dalliance with Miike is The Happiness of the Katakuris so in my well-informed and knowledgeable opinion, after viewing a mere three films by Miike-san, I have come to the conclusion that his films always open with a bang.

The first 10 min always kicks arse — in Happiness of the Katakuris, it … (read more)

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Audition (1999)

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Posted on November 28, 2005 by Jonathan

“Ban this sick film!” has become a bit of a cliché, but it’s sure a hell a functional one. Advocating censorship is now almost as fashionable as whinging about it – the two obviously compliment each other, and as long as there are people going to see some of the more intense examples of film art that are on offer in this fine country of ours, then chances are there’ll be someone to complain about them.

How Audition slipped under … (read more)

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Deadly Outlaw Rekka (2002)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Alan

Takashi Miike is the quintessential maverick film maker who just happens to have made a number of films about quintessentially maverick psychos. There is, no doubt, a connection, but Deadly Outlaw Rekka, for all its occasional bent humour and oddities, is actually one of Miike’s more straight forward efforts.

Like much of Miike’s yakuza work the film opens in a blaze of violence. We watch a series of fast seemingly unrelated cuts which jump in time but mainly focus … (read more)

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Visitor Q (2001)

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Posted on October 29, 2005 by Alison

Mark’s review of Old Boy starts with the warning that This film contains material that may offend some viewers. Miike’s Visitor Q should really carry a warning that This film is chock-full of material that will definitely offend almost everyone.

Miike’s a weird guy. The theme that underlies most of the film is bullying, but it’s handled in a very Miike way: think John Waters does All About Lily Chou-Chou and you’ll be surprisingly close. Nothing is taboo … (read more)

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Ichi the Killer (Animated) (2002)

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Posted on October 29, 2005 by Alison

The moral of this story? Stop bullying, or it’ll all end not in tears but in detached body parts.

This is a hard one to review: on the one hand, most viewers will have all the emotional (or should that be traumatic?) baggage of having watched the movie version of Ichi the Killer first. This is not a Miike film. There’s no touches of the bizarre humour so beloved of Miike fans. Nor is there the glorious vision-in-purple that is … (read more)

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