Here's yet another double review for today: two Takashi Miike's films, Visitor Q (2001) and Ichi the Killer (2001). Both of these films are extremely controversial, and especially Ichi the Killer has become known as one of the most disgusting and violent films ever. Ichi the Killer focuses on three central characters. The title character, Ichi, is a mentally damaged young man; Kakihara is an extremely sadistic and masochistic yakuza boss; Kaneko is an ex-cop who has become a criminal. All of these three characters are engaged in a complicated plot that involves a LOT of cartoonish violence and gore. Visitor Q, on the other hand, is a lot rougher. It is the story of an extremely dysfunctional modern family. I wont reveal a lot of details, but I'll warn you by saying this: it touches on almost every possible controversial topics. It involves - for example - incest, necrophilia and lactation.
Ichi the Killer is often misunderstood as glorification of violence, but Miike inteded it as quite the opposite. It has a mixture of cartoonish, horrible CGI and physical, raw gore. The CGI bits will probably have you laughing out loud - and that's what Miike wanted as well. But he skillfully merges it with shocking gore that makes us really ponder why we actually laughed at the violence. It makes fun of exploitation, yet it seems to laugh at itself too. It is a refreshing and brave take on violence. Although it partly seems that Miike enjoys disturbing the audience, Ichi the Killer really does have a strong message. The story is carefully crafted and the characters are well-developed. Even though it is clearly a parody, the dramatic bits work well too and if the screenplay was slightly altered, it could be interpret as a completely serious film. The climax is one of the best I have ever seen - it is simply fascinating. As funny as it may sound, you can also interpret the film as a tragic story. It just happens to include sadomasochism.
Visitor Q is certainly more controversial than Ichi the Killer. At first it seems a lot more serious than Ichi, but in the end it becomes more like a farce. I understood it as a wild and weird exaggeration of modern families. The dad is only focused on his job and not on his family; the mom tries to take care of the family and accepts anything, both good and bad things; the son is very violent, isolated from others and on top of it all, spoiled. But once a mysterious guest enters the house, the family begins to change gradually. There is also a daughter who lives elsewhere and she is a whore. Seriously. It makes a valid point of modern society although it goes so ridiculously over-the-top - but that is luckily on purpose. The last half of Visitor Q erupts so hilariously that I laughed through the last 25 minutes. Although all of these controversial topics reach their culmination points, it is funny as hell. And even more absurd is the effect on the family. At first I thought Visitor Q was going to be a silly and onesided social commentary, but the end made me change my mind because it was so brilliantly farcical.
Ichi the Killer's form is intriguing and a little pulsating. Mostly it has shots that have great compositions, but then there are a few oddities in the editing, like the beginning of the film. Miike uses slowmotion and fastmotion very absurdly, especially the latter. His use of slowmotion in the climax was a little distracting because it reminded me of Snyder at first, but luckily he didnt overuse it. As you might have guessed, every bit of violence is as juicy as possible - to silly extremes. Miike proves himself to be a talented director as well by being able to do that for 2 hours without any problem.
Visitor Q is the opposite of Ichi in form. It has a calm - and sometimes even documentarian - feeling to it. The camera rarely moves and when it moves, it is slow and smooth. Even though there arent significantly long shots in the film, it feels like there arent many cuts because it moves on such a calm pace. When the shit hits the fan - the farce becomes dominant - the camerawork becomes a bit more lively and more interactive. The farcical climax is something everyone should feel although the content is highly disturbing, but is presented in such a great way that it is impossible not to laugh.
Ichi the Killer's acting is fascinating. Even though Kakihara is one of the strangest and most unsympathetic characters ever, Tadanobu Asano makes him so damn interesting and human that I became actively interested on how he developed and what he was going to get next. The same thing goes for Ichi who isnt really anything *that* special as a character. In Visitor Q, Kenichi Endo's performance as the father is so unbelievably towering that I still havent fully recovered from it. He is SENSATIONAL.
If you can stand cartoonish violence and controversy, you should totally watch these films. I insist.
Scores:
Visitor Q (2001): 9 out of 10
Ichi the Killer (2001): 8 out of 10
On the 30th of July in 2009: I watched Takashi Miike's Audition (1999) for the first time. Even though I was somewhat aware of the film's reputation, it took me by surprise and made me flinch more than anything I had seen during the year. Initially it decreased my interest in Miike, but gradually I began to watch a few other films he had directed.
Audition is the story of a widow who begins to search for a new, young wife by holding an audition. The one he falls in love with seems to be something completely different to what he initially expected. Even though Miike himself denies it, the film is focused on the social commentary. He attacks the values of modern Japanese men: the main character resorts to holding a fake audition in order to find a woman who matches his high (and exact) standards. Naturally, it is exaggerated, but it is a brilliant observation on what a lot of Japanese men have become.
The film's form is fascinating as well. During the first half of the film, it manages to be distant while keeping the emotionally invested in the characters. The slight alienation is only for the better because in the final third, the form becomes so intimate and brutally honest that it has a huge effect on the viewer. The first half of the film is almost very foreboding when you look at the cinematography - especially the lighting.
