Agitator (Araburu tamashii-tachi)

Had this one sitting in my DVD rack for a while, waiting for me to be in the right mood to watch it, as it's a Japanese yakuza (gangster) movie which I thought was going to be pretty hard going.

It's another from Miike Takashi, who I'm a big fan of and am gradually building up my collection of his works.

It's a twisty twisty crime flick, lots of double crossing mixed with traditional yakuza loyalty and is surprisingly easy to follow. The acting is top notch, with well placed comedic turns to avoid taking itself too seriously.

The only downside really is it's a bit of a slow burn at 150 min (apparently there's a 200 min version!), which was a little testing at times, but the story and characters were strong enough to keep me engaged all the way through.

A solid gangster flick.


Agitator (Araburu tamashii-tachi) - 7/10

Dead Or Alive 2 (Dead or Alive 2: Tôbôsha)

Hurrah! Another Takashi Miike film to add to my collection (I also picked up Agitator recently but haven't watched that yet).

Hurrah! Another Takashi Miike film that doesn't make any sense to me what-so-ever!!

I'm not gonna try to explain the plot in much details, suffice to say it revolves around a couple of hitmen, with history, who team up and the rest is pretty damn weird. (as expected)

Now I'm not saying this film doesn't make any sense, the very basic elements of the plot are easy enough to follow (as with the first of the DOA trilogy), however as with pretty much all Mikke's films, they're loaded with metaphor and unfortunately, that's just something I'm not good on, especially when they're Japanese metaphors! Maybe I should've done a film studies degree and spent two years writing essays on metaphors in films!?

Takashi Miike is one of my favourite film makers, I love his style and whole attitude towards things and DOA2 doesn't disappoint in that department. With DOA 1 it was pretty much standard gangster fare for most of the way through, however with the sequel it's full on weird from the outset, god knows what 'Final' will be like, especially as it's set in a post-apocalyptic future!! Should be good!

Anyway, it's a good film and will make a lot of sense to people other than me.


Dead Or Alive 2 (Dead or Alive 2: Tôbôsha) - 8/10

Visitor Q (Bijitâ Q)

yeahhh. um...

Took a while to sink in this one, I finally got round to watching it the other day and, well, as with all the other Miike Takashi films I've seen, it completely fried me.

The spec Miike was given for this film was it must be shot on video and it must be about love.

...and then he did his thing.

Essentially about a dysfunctional family (very dysfunctional), a shamed reporter, a beaten mother, a prostitute daughter and a bullied son, their lives are completely (to quote Fresh Prince) flip-turned upside down, when the mysterious Visitor comes to stay at their home.

Despite going through a checklist of taboos, there was nothing that made me flinch and turn away, possibly because of the extremely odd and somewhat comedic context, although others may not be as comfortable.

I've never been one to pick up on metaphors or get a lot of the messages within the subtext of films, but i can kinda see where this one's going by the end, in it's own warped and twisted way anyway. It's a film that everyone should see, as with most Takashi films, at least once.


Visitor Q (Bijitâ Q) - 8/10

Haze

I do not get this film!

Haze was a random HMV purchase, wanted to get something new, perused the world cinema sections and Haze caught my eye. I read the back and was hooked.

It's a Japanese film, of only around 49mins, from director Shinya Tsukamoto, who previously directed Tetsuo, which I've only seen once and remember it to be a horribly disturbing film at the time.

So, the film..

A man wakes up to find himself locked in a tiny, cramped concrete room, in which he can barely move. He doesn't remember why he is there and where he came from. He has a terrible stomach injury and is slowly bleeding to death.

(Taken from the synopsis by Anon on IMDb)

A brilliant idea, but I just don't get where it went. The film was creepy, really pushing the claustrophobia, (I had to turn the light on!), there's some horrible moments involving grinding but overall I just didn't know what the hell was going on by the end, no clearer than when it started.

However, I will be going back for a second viewing, it may just have been that it was late and I was tired and not trying to freak myself out before bed, but I am still intrigued.


Haze - 6/10