Review of Gozu (2003) by Lee B — 08 Jun 2011

I am well initiated into the Miike universe. And with that, I can honestly say that this movie bothered me more than Ichii. But, I've been warned about Visitor Q and haven't seen it yet. This movie has more unforgettable images and scenes than than others he has made, but more so just pieces things together in an even more macabre way.

This will have spoilers..many of which you may not believe are really in a movie.

I get the cow head idea and how it related to many parts, even the ladle up the butt. But it's a jarring image for someone in their tighty-whities. Too much breast feeding by older people, yes but I can vaguely understand the context. Main character as a woman talking too much about a penis, understand the context - kinda. But how it relates to the end scene considering that she is around at the end, not sure. That's kind of what I mean about the jarring images getting in the way of real story telling. I understand it was supposed to be about bizarrely surreal story that only connect in a "journey" story, but it could have pieced it together a little better even with just emotional ties.

It is a well made movie, and that's why it goes up to 2 stars. But simple things like when Minami believes he can hear voices in the woman's private area and he lists her nightgown up, that area is covered by the rolled up blanket. Later, the camera meanders in and you see that area anyway. It makes you wonder what kind of mood he was trying to set. As with the end sequence when it was probably more disturbing for the actress than the audience. However, I take it more to be like the dog scene in the beginning, we're seeing the story from a safe inside, not really believing what's happening outside the window.