Crazy Japanese movies

[Tavolski]

Has anyone heard of or watched Ichi the Killer?

My friend made me watch it; it's pretty effed up.

[Wes]

Yeah, I've seen it. Hated it, especially given all of the hype surrounding it. I watched it an Otakon (pretty large east coast anime convention, held annually in Baltimore, MD) -- not only was there a huge line for it and an incredibly long wait (if you got there early, which I did), but then when they moved the film to a larger auditorium two floors down to accommodate the crowd, the people literally turned and ran down there like Christ (e.g. some famous anime artist they all worship) was giving out autographed sketches and communion wafers were being served with vodka. It was fucking ridiculous, especially when a good third of those people looked like they'd never done any running before in their lives -- and you don't know the meaning of horror until you've been knocked aside by a 500 lb. stampeding otaku.

So then I got down there (I don't know why they were rushing; there were plenty of seats) and the movie was pretty lame, just a bunch of "ooh, let's see how sick/twisted/demented we can make this scene" scenes, and it wasn't even all that sick to me (I've seen Troma films, people). I was pretty bored; couldn't wait for the movie to end. All Miike films have had that effect on me, though.

If you really want to see weird Miike stuff, I recommend (if it even makes sense to use the word "recommend" in conjunction with a Miike film, ugh) checking out Gozu. I really hated that one too. I'm considering reviewing it on SC, though, but it's unlikely, since I really don't want to sit through the film again. I hate Takashi Miike.

[possums]

Gozu is fantastic, but I don't know how anyone could possibly not like Ichi the Killer. It's one of the first movies that I can remember spending countless hours on trying to analyze the bizarre metaphors it creates. What I got out of it was an insane metaphor for the life of a manipulative director (like the character Jijii, or perhaps even Miike himself).

Also, Happiness of the Katakuris is a fabulous Miike movie with a bizarre premise: a violent, yet family-friendly MUSICAL with bits of claymation and starring rock stars, one of whom plays a con man who claims to be the bastard son of Queen Elizibeth. It's fantastic. It has dancing corpses.

But in my opinion, Visitor Q and MPD-Psycho (the TV series) take the cake for Miike insanity. MPD-Psycho was apparently censored with the mosaic techniques, not by the board of censorship in Japan but by Miike himself... to add a different layer of commentary to the show.

Still, even his most basic movies have bits of insanity. Fudoh has the girl that shoots darts out of her vagina. Dead or Alive has that scene where the guy jacks off his dog (I'm not even joking). I love him like a son. LIKE A SON. Okayi'llshutupnow.

[lucifergrendel]

ALL japanese movies have crazy things in them!

That is why i LOVE them!