“Audition” is quite a historic production (at least for its cult following), since it was the film that established Takashi Miike as a prominent member of the horror category and Eihi Shiina as a “priestess” of the grotesque.
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Based on the homonymous novel by Ryu Murakami, who actually wrote it as a reaction to a failed love affair, “Audition” tells the story of Shigeharu Aoyama, a middle aged entrepreneur who has recently lost his wife and has been living a disinterested life ever since. His 17-year-old son, Shigehiko, who worries about the turn his father's life seem to have taken, prompts him to meet new women. Yoshikawa, a friend of Shigeharu and a film producer, proposes that he take part in a sham in order to meet women, an idea he agrees to. According to the plan, actresses would...
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Based on the homonymous novel by Ryu Murakami, who actually wrote it as a reaction to a failed love affair, “Audition” tells the story of Shigeharu Aoyama, a middle aged entrepreneur who has recently lost his wife and has been living a disinterested life ever since. His 17-year-old son, Shigehiko, who worries about the turn his father's life seem to have taken, prompts him to meet new women. Yoshikawa, a friend of Shigeharu and a film producer, proposes that he take part in a sham in order to meet women, an idea he agrees to. According to the plan, actresses would...
- 1/19/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
To what extent is “Deadly Outlaw: Rekka” (aka Violent Fire) simply just another Takashi Miike yakuza flick, drenched in the overly common tropes of betrayal, inter-family politics, and vengeance? On one hand, this semi-maniacal reimagining of Shigenori Takechi’s script (previously adapted in 2001 as the gloriously epic “Agitator“) is an exercise in weirdness and in collaboration; a world occupied with familiar faces in the Miike canon, hanging out and enjoying making almost no sense whatsoever. On the other hand, it is a long overdue and extended music video to one of the most celebrated Japanese psych rock albums to ever grace a record player – Flower Travellin’ Band’s 1971 masterpiece Satori. What you have then is more than just some film: “Rekka” signifies the countercultural wheel yanking its tail and swallowing it whole, bound to an endless cycle of repetition and recurrences; for the most part it is an almighty blast to experience.
- 1/21/2020
- by Jamie Cansdale
- AsianMoviePulse
One of the earliest films that proved Miike’s ability for diversity, “Shangri-La” is one of his lesser-known films, since it was never released on DVD in the United States.
Shangri-La is the name given to a narrow piece of land by the sea by the homeless and altruistic people that live there. Their leader is a peculiar individual everyone calls The Mayor, who has an afro and constantly wears sunglasses. Gangs of criminals attack the homeless because they aspire to use their area to dump garbage. However, a passerby saves the homeless by pretending to be a cop, showing them a badge that is actually his postal booklet. He subsequently becomes a resident of Shangri-La, under the nickname “the Deputy”.
The next day, the Mayor and the Deputy prevent Umemoto, an owner of a printing house from committing suicide, due to the bankruptcy of the company that chiefly financed him,...
Shangri-La is the name given to a narrow piece of land by the sea by the homeless and altruistic people that live there. Their leader is a peculiar individual everyone calls The Mayor, who has an afro and constantly wears sunglasses. Gangs of criminals attack the homeless because they aspire to use their area to dump garbage. However, a passerby saves the homeless by pretending to be a cop, showing them a badge that is actually his postal booklet. He subsequently becomes a resident of Shangri-La, under the nickname “the Deputy”.
The next day, the Mayor and the Deputy prevent Umemoto, an owner of a printing house from committing suicide, due to the bankruptcy of the company that chiefly financed him,...
- 8/5/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
After finishing the first movie, Takashi Miike did not hesitate to throw Bodyguard Kiba into a second round of high kicks and low-level storytelling.
This time the plot takes some turns and churns up a narrative of vengeance. Kiba has to protect Natsuki, who has some business in Taipei. Little does he know that he walks right into a trap. Aiming to overtake Kiba’s Daito Karate school, a Chinese Karate teacher named Mr. Wong is pulling the strings behind the scenes.
As the story discloses, “Bodyguard Kiba 2: Apocalypse of Carnage” focuses much more on the rivalry of the different Dojos. Miike fills the backstory holes that gapped open after the first part and we get to know about Kiba’s past and the origin of his Karate school. Nevertheless, the script, written again by Hisao Maki, includes varies continuity flaws and does not even bother...
This time the plot takes some turns and churns up a narrative of vengeance. Kiba has to protect Natsuki, who has some business in Taipei. Little does he know that he walks right into a trap. Aiming to overtake Kiba’s Daito Karate school, a Chinese Karate teacher named Mr. Wong is pulling the strings behind the scenes.
As the story discloses, “Bodyguard Kiba 2: Apocalypse of Carnage” focuses much more on the rivalry of the different Dojos. Miike fills the backstory holes that gapped open after the first part and we get to know about Kiba’s past and the origin of his Karate school. Nevertheless, the script, written again by Hisao Maki, includes varies continuity flaws and does not even bother...
- 2/6/2019
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
As we mentioned in the review of the first part of the trilogy, the influence of Kitano was small but significant. This time, however, it is much more evident (from “Sonatine”), although the preposterousness that characterizes Miike’s style, still manages to dominate a large part of the film.
Two contract killers, blonde-haired and quirky Mizuki Okamoto and cool and silent Shuuichi Sawada meet with each other by accident, during a “job” and soon realize that they are childhood friends. Their reunion propels them into travelling to the island they grew up together. As they reminisce the past and meet up with old friends, they learn a number of shuttering news and eventually take a big decision: to start killing for… charity, giving their earnings to the poor children of the world. Their decision, though, brings them against their old employers, the crime syndicates.
This time, Miike...
Two contract killers, blonde-haired and quirky Mizuki Okamoto and cool and silent Shuuichi Sawada meet with each other by accident, during a “job” and soon realize that they are childhood friends. Their reunion propels them into travelling to the island they grew up together. As they reminisce the past and meet up with old friends, they learn a number of shuttering news and eventually take a big decision: to start killing for… charity, giving their earnings to the poor children of the world. Their decision, though, brings them against their old employers, the crime syndicates.
This time, Miike...
- 10/2/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In Takashi Miike’s vast filmography, there are some films that could be considered as trademarks of his ever-changing style, like “Ichi the Killer”, “Visitor Q”, “Audition” and many others. I feel though, that if one would like to present a title that is the embodiment of his style, the “Dead or Alive” trilogy is the perfect choice. Today, we are going to deal with the first part.
After an 8-minute sequence filled with punk music, sex, and violence that largely sets the tone of the film, the narrative cools a bit down, in order to present the story. Jojima is a competent police officer who happens to retain connections with the local Yakuza and their leader, Satake. Jojima is about to ask for a loan to pay for his daughter’s medical expenses. Around that point, Ryuichi, another outlaw, this time of Chinese ancestry, and his...
After an 8-minute sequence filled with punk music, sex, and violence that largely sets the tone of the film, the narrative cools a bit down, in order to present the story. Jojima is a competent police officer who happens to retain connections with the local Yakuza and their leader, Satake. Jojima is about to ask for a loan to pay for his daughter’s medical expenses. Around that point, Ryuichi, another outlaw, this time of Chinese ancestry, and his...
- 9/29/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Takashi Miike has answered the “Can a film be so bad that is good?” question affirmatively a number of times, and the “Katakuris” is definitely among the movie that provide a positive reply.
The script is loosely based on Kim Jee-woon’s film, “The Quiet Family”, but Takashi Miike took the basic premises of the original and turned them completely upside down, in order to present a movie that lingers between the musical and the thriller, also including elements of slapstick comedy, parody and claymation.
The Katakuris are a four-generation family of failures: patriarch Masao Katakuri, his wife Terue, his father Jinpei, his formerly criminal son Masayuki, his divorced daughter Shizue, her child Yurie and their dog, Pochi. The family uses the father’s redundancy pay to purchase an old home in the country, near Mount Fuji, in order to convert it into a bed and breakfast.
The script is loosely based on Kim Jee-woon’s film, “The Quiet Family”, but Takashi Miike took the basic premises of the original and turned them completely upside down, in order to present a movie that lingers between the musical and the thriller, also including elements of slapstick comedy, parody and claymation.
The Katakuris are a four-generation family of failures: patriarch Masao Katakuri, his wife Terue, his father Jinpei, his formerly criminal son Masayuki, his divorced daughter Shizue, her child Yurie and their dog, Pochi. The family uses the father’s redundancy pay to purchase an old home in the country, near Mount Fuji, in order to convert it into a bed and breakfast.
- 4/15/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Takashi Miike took the homonymous, overly violent manga series by Hideo Yamamoto and created one of the most controversial films of all time, which shocked the censorship committees to a point where they allowed only extensively censored versions of it, while Norway still forbids showing, distributing and even owning it.
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The leader of a Yakuza family disappears without leaving a trace and the rest of the gang members believe that he has been murdered. Kakihara, his second in command and a schizophrenic, sadomasochistic misanthrope who is additionally in love with his boss, sets on a trip to exact revenge, which entails torturing other gangs’ members, an act he enjoys to the fullest. However, the killer is not a Yakuza, but a disturbed individual, whose underlying, extreme violent nature is exploited by a mysterious persona, who eventually orders him to eradicate Kakihara’s gang.
Takashi Miike has largely...
Buy This Title
The leader of a Yakuza family disappears without leaving a trace and the rest of the gang members believe that he has been murdered. Kakihara, his second in command and a schizophrenic, sadomasochistic misanthrope who is additionally in love with his boss, sets on a trip to exact revenge, which entails torturing other gangs’ members, an act he enjoys to the fullest. However, the killer is not a Yakuza, but a disturbed individual, whose underlying, extreme violent nature is exploited by a mysterious persona, who eventually orders him to eradicate Kakihara’s gang.
Takashi Miike has largely...
- 3/1/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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