Review of Ichi the Killer (2001) by Matthew P — 08 May 2009

What a movie.

The plot: Kakihara is a sado-masochistic yakuza. His boss disappears. Kakihara begins hunting for him, because (we are led to believe) his boss used to beat him and Kakihara needs the pain. It turns out that the boss has been killed by Ichi, a sort of idiot savant murdered/sex deviant who is being manipulated by rival Yakuza to destroy Kakihara's gang.

Takashi Miike is one of the most famous Japanese directors outside of Japan, known for extremely graphic and uncompromising films. This is certainly graphic, although many of the extremely gory scenes are played for laughs. I also found the characters and plot too cartoonish to take seriously, which makes this entertaining but not disturbing (unlike Miieke's Audition, which is I think a superior film).

This movie has almost unlimited style though. Clever cinematography and editing throughout. The performances are comical and entertaining, and the pace is brisk despite a fairly long running time. As an added bonus, one of the major characters (either the villain or the Obi-Wan character, depending upon one's point of view) is played by none other than Shinya Tsukamoto, the creator of Tetsuo: the Iron Man, a film by which I judge all "strange" movies (as in, "Well it was pretty weird, but nothing like Tetsuo").

Not for the squeamish but highly recommended.