Any Takashi Miike fans here?

[medea]

Just recieved the Dead or Alive trilogy and the must see Full Metal Gokudo. I've seen the first Dead or Alive and am eager to watch the other two, and any Miike fan should pick up the artsmagicdvd release (just came out the 25th) of Full Metal Yakuza which includes interviews with Takashi Miike, Editor Yasushi Shimamura and commentry with Tom Mes.

[krimson]

I love this guy, he's done just about any kind of move you could imagine, all with a flair that's all his own.

It's too bad you can't really get most of his work here in the States... but i have managed to get a hold of graveyard of honor, shangri-la, happiness of the katakuris, ichii the killer, visitor q, dead or alive 1 & 2 (havnent' gotten Final yet), cit of lost souls, audition, ley lines, China triad wars, Fudoh, Full metal yakuza.. and a few TV fansubs i can't remember the names of...

[mkrishnan]

Is Takashi Miike the same person as Beat Takashi, are they just two Takashi-tachi who do yakuza-oriented movies? I really liked the latter's movie where he was the yakuza lieutenant who gets sent on a suicide mission to Okinawa with a bunch of kids. I thought it was really emotionally powerful for a gangster movie.

Oh, and heehee, O/T, but whenever I hear Dead or Alive I think of the video game of the same name, and then of the commercial where the kids are sitting on the sofa, and one is praising the elegance of the 3D engine and the other responds, drooling, "She kicks *high*!" :D

[medea]

Is Takashi Miike the same person as Beat Takashi
No actually Beat Takashi's actual name is Takashi Kitano and the two are completely different. Also the Dead or Alive series has nothing to do with the video game.

[medea]

graveyard of honor, shangri-la, happiness of the katakuris, ichii the killer, visitor q, dead or alive 1 & 2 (havnent' gotten Final yet), cit of lost souls, audition, ley lines, China triad wars, Fudoh, Full metal yakuza.. and a few TV fansubs i can't remember the names of...
Quite a collection, the people who just released Full Metal Yakuza will also be releasing another Miike film title Sabu soon, I've also seen a film titled Junk Food from Miike available on amazon though I know nothing about that one.

[mkrishnan]

No actually Beat Takashi's actual name is Takashi Kitano and the two are completely different. Also the Dead or Alive series has nothing to do with the video game.

Oh, sorry. :( And I did know that about the DoA video games already...that's why I said it was O/T. :D I will have to check out Miike's movies when I can find one.

[krimson]

Sabu's pretty good, but I watched it without subtitles, and none of my friends having time/want to translate most of it, so I dont remember too much, other than liking just what i saw. Dont know about junk food, can't remember anything that would translate to it... ill poke around.

[medea]

Dont know about junk food, can't remember anything that would translate to it... ill poke around.
Found out some info on Junk Food at kino.com, here is their description:

-Blending widescreen cinematography with digital video, Junk Food casts an unblinking but painterly eye over the darkest, most brutal fringes of contemporary Japanese society. Junk Food depicts the hitherto unseen world of aberrant sexuality and savage violence that emerges when the sun goes down and clean, orderly Tokyo exposes its sordid underbelly.

From gambling dens to wrestling rings, through makeshift funerals and crime-of-passion murders, director Masashi Yamamoto expertly knits together a series of smoky, neon-lit vignettes with documentary immediacy and gruesome clarity. Cashing in her antiseptic white-collar world for a white powder hell of lethal sex-play and furtive drug abuse, a beautiful young computer programmer unravels her way to the gutter. Clinging to an empty dream of success, a Pakistani immigrant graduates from armed robbery to double homicide. Using the same copycat precision with which they dress and drive, a carbon copy LA style street gang mounts a bloodthirsty coup d’etat of appalling viciousness.

Both detached and explicit, Junk Food is a post-modern travelogue of Tokyo vice that strips away the trappings of conventional crime films and lays bare the fractured fates and animal emotions of those at the edge of modern urban life. Boasting an "absorbing visual style and intense performances by non-professional actors" (The San Francisco Guardian), Junk Food offers a knife-point tour of a haunting inferno peopled by a rogues gallery of human scoria with no means of escape and no road home.-

Also it is apparently not a Miike film but a film by Masashi Yamamoto, my bad.

[Abstract]

Um....what types of movies are these? Sound strange, but none of you give away any hints as to what types of movies this guy/these guys do. They sound Tarantino-ish, but I'd like to know for sure.

[krimson]

it's REALLY hard to put his films in any one category.. but most of them have the typical japanese "yakuza-murder-revenge" theme in them.. but each one of those has it's own little twist... the others are just... well... a bit tarentino'ish, but i'd say tarentino is Miike-ish.
for example..

Happiness of the Katakuris - is a MUSICAL LOL
Fudoh, new generation - yakuza movie, but kids are the main characters.
audition - widower seeks new wife by pretending to be auditioning for a show... plot goes to hell (in a good way) after that.. total psychological thriller, whose ending will knock off your feet.

There's a good listing of Miike's works on IMDB Link (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0586281/). Try not to read the spoilers though, they do kinda ruin the mood and Miike's surprise.

[medea]

Abstract:
He is not a genre director nor does he consider himself one so it would really be wrong to categorize his films, but I will say that he often strays into exploitative territories and although there is often a high level of shock value to his work it is never in the realm of "shock for shock's sake."

[krimson]

the end of Audition was beyond shocking, that's for sure.. and that was my introduction to his works.. :eek:

[medea]

I just viewed Sabu (released by artsmagicdvd.com) and it was amazing. It was one of the most compelling Miike films I've seen so far and I was quite surprised after viewing it as I expected it to be lower level since it is a made-for-television movie. Let me tell you Sabu in no way resembles a made-for-television movie, it's top-notch all around.

[bousozoku]

the end of Audition was beyond shocking, that's for sure.. and that was my introduction to his works.. :eek:

Are you sure about that? :D I thought it was more shocking when he opened the sack.

I saw Fudoh before Audition and never connected them other than in the directness of the characters. It seems many Japanese films have become violent in (what I consider to be) odd ways. I just recently got the DVD for Ao no Honoo and it shows great directness in violence applied to everyday life.

[krimson]

nah, the sack was a surprise! like a woman in a cake.. hehe

Kintaro just got released in the US, so ill be checking that out soon.

[mouchoir]

Are you sure about that? :D I thought it was more shocking when he opened the sack.

I saw Fudoh before Audition and never connected them other than in the directness of the characters. It seems many Japanese films have become violent in (what I consider to be) odd ways. I just recently got the DVD for Ao no Honoo and it shows great directness in violence applied to everyday life.

That was gnarly, but at the end when she goes 'teekee teekee teeke teekee tee' over and over with a smile as she goes to work, that was horrible. I just have to make that sound and my flatmate shivers!

'Dead or Alive' was my favourite of the trilogy – that second half just came out of nowhere. That was the first time I saw a Miike film. 'Audition' is dead scary, 'Ichi' is pretty minging and 'Happiness of the Katakuris' is sound of music meets night of the living dead crazy.

Really looking forward to 'Izo' which is out here soon. A samurai who's rage (at being crucified) propels him through space and time, and he just has to kill along the way. Takeshi Kitano is in that one as the primeminister of japan.

You can find a trailer if you do a google search – check it out!

Takeshi Kitano is one of my favourite directors though. 'Hana-bi' (fireworks) in the US is sublime. 'Violent Cop', 'Sonatine', 'Brother', 'Boiling Point', 'Dolls' and the latest, 'Zatoichi', are all excellent. Particularily 'Zatoichi'.

[krimson]

That was gnarly, but at the end when she goes 'teekee teekee teeke teekee tee' over and over with a smile as she goes to work, that was horrible. I just have to make that sound and my flatmate shivers!

...



I do that with my snowboarding buddies.. i make that sound, and they grab their ankles and shiver. bwahahahahahaa...

[medea]

I've heard about Izo and look forward to seeing it as soon as possible. artsmagicdvd is crazy about Miike, by Oct they will have released 7 of his films on dvd in the U.S. Right now I'm looking forward to their releases of his Black Society trilogy and later on his Young Thugs films.

[medea]

Oh I forgot to mention that artsmagicdvd.com has contests all the time for their releases, they show a still from a movie and you send them a caption, if they pick yours you win a copy of a movie. I have entered since day one and I one the first contest though I got a copy of Full Metal Yakuza which I had already purchased, I have entered each other one and have gotten honorable mentions but I don't think they will let me win any more for a while. Give it a try, perhaps you can get a free DVD.
They also are looking for recommendations on future releases so if you can think of any asian films that are not currently released in the u.s. (they also have a u.k. site) they send them an email. I would recommend asking for the two sequals to the Maiku Hama trilogy, if you havn't seen it yet I definitely recommend film no.1 'The Most Terrible Time In My Life." The films are about a detective named Maiku Hama, get it?