I wouldn't bracket this movie with the surreal stuff that Miike has let loose on an unsuspecting public. Nor would I place it in the shootemup yakuza bloodbath series. It belongs with the reflective character pieces like Rainy Dog and Ley Lines, and has a fair bit in common with the gaijin outcast anti-heroes in City of Lost Souls.
Chuji is a victim of history and circumstance. We join him for the poignant finale of his brief, but tragic existence. He's a musical supernova in his limited beatbar universe, and a smalltime dealer in the (slightly) wider world. His life becomes entwined with an ambitious yakuza kiddie(Daisuke Ijima), whose plans are bigger than his brains. With predictably dire results. The feeling of impending doom is tempered by the almost punkish nihilism of the main players. It's Miike playing with that inevitable mortality thing again.
Beautifully underplayed, with some blatant plugs for the Japanese indie music scene, this movie doesn't set out out to shock or confuse. It limits its ambition to telling a melancholy story, and as a result, it's much closer to a righteous Kurosawa/Kitano vibe than the Black Society Trilogy.
Hiroyuki Ikeuchi is excellent as Chuji, the semi-gaijin harp player whose pappy may or may not have been a Yankee serviceman stationed in Okinawa. Or a street drunk. Or both. His mother is a prostitute. So it's fairly clear from the prologue that Chuji has had all the dubious benefits of a dysfunctional upbringing.
Ikeuchi is effortlessly convincing throughout. I hope he gets plenty of work on the basis of his performance in this very neat little drama.
Chuji is a victim of history and circumstance. We join him for the poignant finale of his brief, but tragic existence. He's a musical supernova in his limited beatbar universe, and a smalltime dealer in the (slightly) wider world. His life becomes entwined with an ambitious yakuza kiddie(Daisuke Ijima), whose plans are bigger than his brains. With predictably dire results. The feeling of impending doom is tempered by the almost punkish nihilism of the main players. It's Miike playing with that inevitable mortality thing again.
Beautifully underplayed, with some blatant plugs for the Japanese indie music scene, this movie doesn't set out out to shock or confuse. It limits its ambition to telling a melancholy story, and as a result, it's much closer to a righteous Kurosawa/Kitano vibe than the Black Society Trilogy.
Hiroyuki Ikeuchi is excellent as Chuji, the semi-gaijin harp player whose pappy may or may not have been a Yankee serviceman stationed in Okinawa. Or a street drunk. Or both. His mother is a prostitute. So it's fairly clear from the prologue that Chuji has had all the dubious benefits of a dysfunctional upbringing.
Ikeuchi is effortlessly convincing throughout. I hope he gets plenty of work on the basis of his performance in this very neat little drama.