takashi miike

how were the other films you've seen so far martin?

I've enjoyed 7 out of 8 (the other was my girlfriend's choice, an okay Argentine flick), mostly Oriental films, which is my big specialist interest. The two I've looked forward to most are tomorrow and Tuesday, A Chinese Odyssey (which sounds utterly crazed) and Lilya-4-Ever, the new Lukas Moodysson.

ha my girlf wants me to come see polissons et galipettes, that old porn one. she's paying, natch

don't suppose you saw russian ark?

yes. got to see all of them.

just saw the first DoA. my favorite so far in the line of Miike's more over-the-top ultraviolent manga films (Ichi, Fudoh, etc). haven't had this kind of fun since the first time i saw "Fist of the North Star" as a young teen. i want to see the sequels now but have no idea how to find them....

I love that series (the movie was terrible tho').

Takashi Miike is obviously a director with huge amounts of energy and innovative thoughts, but he seems to have trouble controlling that energy to make coherent, flawless movies. The more of of his films I see, the more I begin to suspect he'll never something as good as Audition, the one film of his which is coherent from the beginning to the very end.

Diego OTM (as per usual).

Is it worth struggling through the last 1:40 if I'm already squicked?

its rad btw

re: miike, ive onyl seen happiness of the katakiris and it was off the chain, the zombie dancing is awesome. dont want to watch audition and ichi etc cos i am a wimp

Nope. The film is kinda formless, and there aren't that many funnily macabre scenes, even less than in Visitor Q. Audition and Happiness of the Katakuris are the only ones of his films I'd recommend wholeheartedly (see myst post uphtread). Dead or Alive is worth seeing too, I guess, if only for what is one of the most jaw-dropping endings in the history of cinema.

It sorta feels like Miike is a victim of the fanboy syndrome; he's talented, sure, but he just keeps on feeding his core audience hungry for gore and shock values. There's nothing wrong with blood and the macabre per se, obviously (Audition proves he can make a good film using them), but in films like Ichi there's nothing more.

SO THERE.

is there going to be a BFI short book about it? can anybody direct me to any good writing about the film?

which of the gangster movies should i watch next, "graveyard of honor" or "dead or alive"?

"Dead or Alive" is pretty fun, haven't seen any of the sequels.

The next person who says Miike is a genius must sit through all the "Young Thugs" films.

And who the heck's saying that Visitor Q isn't a comedy until the final 3rd? It's a comedy the minute Q whacks Dad w/ a brick!

Izo is quite numbingly depressing save for a couple great scenes. It's very well made, but my brain just turned off midway through. He sure loves birthing scenes and lactation.

http://monkeytownhq.com/horrorweek.html

http://imdb.com/title/tt0257885/

Holy crap - Miike is IN Hostel (directed by that Cabin Fever guy)!

http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2006/11/weirdness_ho_mi.html

13 Assassins was really something.

In a good way?

Definitely. Strictly for the ultraviolence crowd though.

Brilliant, I'm there.

One of the better remakes I've seen. tremendous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSJxRbrvmUM

13 Assassins was pretty great. Not ground-breaking in any way, but just a lot of fun, pretty self-aware of samurai movie tropes, with a dash of really out-of-place Miike ultraviolence extremities. I love how the final battle more or less drops the pretense of realism that the movie had been following for the most part. A wonderful slow burn build up to that phenomenal set piece.

It was really strange how in parts it was remarkably restrained in its graphic violence (i.e. the opening harakiri, though just the sound effects might have been even worse!), the surprising lack of arterial blood spray - I'm guessing in reverence to its sources, and yet other times it was totally over-the-top (that woman early in the film).

dying to see this on a big screen

i think i enjoyed the build up more than the battle itself. especially the part with 'that woman'

13 asses was kewl - has pretty much everything you'd want from a bloody samurai flick. i didnt think the build up was that great - lots of scenes of stern men going 'nng!' and 'hmm!' while talking about duty and honor - but at the same time it was just right for the payoff you get (the battle). the japanese version is longer but it's mostly just draggy exposition from what i understand and not miike craziness - stick with the intl vers

I like some of some of them.

the japanese version is longer but it's mostly just draggy exposition from what i understand and not miike craziness - stick with the intl vers

Interesting...obviously it's a great action film but few of the characters were developed satisfactorily (about half of the assassins were 100% interchangeable/disposable), which detracted from its emotional impact for me.

Thought the opening shot was extremely effective (those sound effects!!!).

yeah, i honestly could only remember Shinzaemon's name and the rest were just 'types' - probably the biggest thing holding the movie back from being really great.

one weird thing i noticed was that upashi was played by the same actress who played the wife of the nephew samurai... and only he and the mysterious immortal hunter survived hmmmm

I was going to mention that but thought it might count as a spoiler...assuming it's intentional I can't think of any explanation that isn't totally wtf and nonsensical in the context of the rest of the film.

yeah, i didn't understand what was going on there

I am stupidly excited about the Phoenix Wright movie he's supposedly working on.

i saw "gozu" recently. amazing demented film. id forgotten about this guy in the last few years but film 4 have shown a couple of his movies this week. i have "13 assasins" dvr'd as well so im looking forward to seeing that.

exploring some obscurities (96 films!)

http://www.filmcomment.com/entry/kaiju-shakedown-takashi-miike

i used to dismiss this guy but i don't think he's dismissable (miike that is)

96 films!

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL was pretty awesome. Warning - super long, overstuffed, and gratuitous, and that's just I wanted to see.

watching Blade of the Immortal

man and I thought I loved 13 Assassins. This one is even more ott but with an added layer of grotesque fairytale, i am loving it.

better than 13 Assassins?

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/499/679/770.gif

maaaaybe? i’m not sure yet

easily on par tho

it’s like 13 Assassins but at operatic levels.
Blade is more complicated & emotional, which i love, but god the simplicity of 13 Assassins was so good it’s hard to beat it. it’s hard to fault either film on their own merits though.

i’m still reeeling from this. the hurt-fight scene chroeography is sooooo crazy-good & the acting is so convincing. and the music! . and the revenge triangle climax is so fkn beautiful & desolate

ugh. love!

^^Just noticed this was on Netflix! it's as tremendously fun, OTT and gory as you'd expect. also appreciated the ridiculous anime fashion/hairstyles (shout out to lady assassin in bright purple yukata and platform sandals) being translated into live action.

Is it a different cut to the UK dvd because that was a 15 and you could see how some shots had been cut early?

(oh, are you talking blade... Or 13 assassins? I'm talking 13 assassins)

Was talking about blade, yeah

My bf was like "hey look Ichi The Killer is getting a re-release" and I said "you like Takeshi Miike?" and he said "I haven't seen any of his films" and I said "omg don't read ANYTHING about Audition, you just have to walk into it cold". That same evening we ordered in food and I turned on Audition and he got really angry when it was over, he said "you're a fucking jerk" and I said "why? you didn't like the movie?" and he said "no, I feel like you're an older kid who is bullying me at school, you do this all the time" and then I spoke the next day with my therapist about larger personality-defects in myself (tendencies toward smugness and sanctimony)

Anyway I'm gonna show him Blade Of The Immortal tonight

Kudos, that's a story

hahaha, i love that story
i kind of have to agree with your BF though as much as I love Audition

Yakuza Apocalypse man

A little long but as nuts as you can hope for.

But you could almost make a normal person watch it!

watched Dead or Alive yesterday. i stood in my living room and applauded upon its conclusion.

I don't think it ever tops the long opening sequence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f-dyjACbB0

https://www.angelikafilmcenter.com/nyc/film/first-love
Monday NYC Q&A with Miike

maybe it's sold out because the 7:10 show doesn't appear for monday or tuesday

whoops, that was weeks ago. mb!

Forty minutes into Blade of the Immortal I am intrigued but hope I don’t fall asleep.

i dont think you will imo