Review of The Bird People in China (1998) by Bill B — 20 Jan 2014

It's odd to see a film-maker like Takashi Miike, the notorious film-maker behind controversial films like Audition and Ichi The Killer make something that is so...well, I don't really even know how to describe it.

It's certainly a unique, and dare I say, original fantasy film. Normally, I don't like it when people randomly toss around the word "original" when describing a film because there are bound to be a number of examples of what a film does that were done years, or even decades before.

When it comes to The Bird People In China, I can honestly say that I have never seen any film like it, nor will I ever again. While I do enjoy fantasy franchises like Lord Of The Rings, The Neverending Story, Harry Potter, etc.

, this film is a very fresh take on fantasy with its whimsical premise, oddball characters, hilarious humor, themes about life, and everything in between. The premise alone is strange. A Japanese businessman is sent by his employer to check out a jade mine in a remote village in China, but the company didn't tell him that they had unsettled debts with the Yakuza, so the man is accompanied during the trip by a very angry and abusive debt collector for the Yakuza, along with their strange tour guide.

What is already a strange journey becomes even more bizarre with the scenarios they find themselves in like riding a raft pulled by turtles, getting high as fuck on mushrooms, the tour guide loses his memory during the journey, and then they end up the remote village which just so happens to have a school that tries to teach people to fly like birds.

It's a strange and hypnotic fantasy from start to finish, that touches on various themes like the emptiness of the modern world, the beauty of nature, self-discovery, and much more. If you love a good strange film, this is one to definitely check out, as you will never see anything like it.

It's easily one of the best fantasy films I've ever seen.