| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Takashi
Miike
Starring: Tadanobu Asano,
Sabu, Alien Sun, Shinya Tsukamoto, Nao Omori,
Susumu Terajima, Shun Sugata, Satoshi Niizuma,
Toru Tezuka, Yoshiki Arizono, Hoka Kinoshita,
Mai Goto, Hiroyuki Kobayashi,
Screenplay:Sakichi
Sato based on the manga by Hideo Yamamoto
Music: Karera Musication
Country: Japan |
Ichi The Killer received its international
premiere at the Toronto Film Festival of 2001.
In the direct aftermath of 9/11 900 audience members
who had been issued with vomit bags immediately
began spreading the word on the film just as the
news of the other cataclysmic event encircled
the globe. A new goremeister in the form of Japanese
filmmaker Takashi Miike had arrived and the film
that Ichi was immediately compared to was Peter
Jackson's Braindead. Sure, Ichi has its fair share
of arterial sprays and utilises household objects
to test human flesh in ways that they weren't
designed for but this is no simple gagfest. Not
only will Ichi rip your head off and pull your
intestines out your neck it will also simultaneously
fuck you, and I'm not talking gently and not necessarily
physically. Simply put Ichi is a direct challenge
to how we view violence and how the space between
your ears processes it which is one reason it
never scored a berth at the Melbourne International
Filmfest.
Urgent music accompanies flashing imagery of
a seething urban Japan as we land on first avenue,
smack in the middle of Tokyo's Shinjuku district.
Inside an apartment a woman is being beaten to
a pulp. Someone is watching from outside. A man
rapes the woman as he punches her. While all the
action occurs inside the interested observer has
blown on a pot plant on the balcony. As his sperm
drips off the leaves of the plant and forms a
pool on the ground the main title animates itself
from the midst of the little puddle.
Elsewhere three leather clad cleaners with designer
face masks enter another apartment which is covered
from floor to ceiling in intestines and grue.
We soon meet the blonde and facially scarred Kakihara
from the front cover of the disc box and learn
that gang boss Anjo has gone missing along with
3 million yen. Kakihara believes his leader is
being held by another gang and announces his intention
to find him. Not only an incredibly snappy dresser,
Kakihara is also seriously obsessed and obviously
not a man to fuck with. At a night club Kakihara
notices a bunch of partying yakuza who hit themselves
up in between rounds of drinks. They're explained
to him as gang outcasts and Kakihara offers them
a reward for any information on his missing boss.
Out on the street a man naked from the waist down
is being chased. One guy (Jijii) brings Kakihara
a rumour about the activities of another gang.
It's pointed out to Kakihara that he once cheated
that gang out of a porn deal but Kakihara still
orders their boss, Mr. Suzuki, to be brought to
him. Stringing Suzuki up on hooks ala Fakir Musafar,
Kakihara sticks steel skewers in his face getting
Suzuki to admit to dubbing porn videos. Kakihara
then whips up some fried shrimp and pours the
boiling oil on his victim's back.
Meanwhile, the gang of outcasts watch it all
on CC TV courtesy of the camera Jijii sneaked
into the Anjo gang office. Kakihara is obviously
enjoying himself as Jijii disappears.
Later Kakihara faces a syndicate of gang bosses
and in order to apologise for his untoward behaviour
with Mr. Suzuki he unceremoniously cuts off half
of his own tongue which only earns revulsion and
enmity from the assembled yakuza. Kakihara just
answers his mobile and carries on his search with
his new speech impediment and a few stitches.
Kakihara then hooks up with the girlfriend of
his missing gang boss and has to break the fingers
of a woman who won't provide him with any information.
Kakihara soon discovers Jijii's surveillance equipment
and a supply of money which is covered in blood.
Licking the cash he surmises that this gang did
the deed and he immediately seeks a confession.
Encasing one guy inside a tubeless TV set he's
told that Ichi did the killing. We also learn
that Kakihara only wants his boss back because
he loves to be tortured by him. With Kakihara's
tongue floating in a jar Suzuki swears to kill
Kakihara.
Besides the opening sequence it's not until mid
way through the film that we gain any firm insight
into the title character other than the rumours
and the aftermath of his killing sprees. We're
back observing another brutal rape and so is Ichi
who this time begins to have flashbacks of his
own. Dressed in a neoprene costume that makes
him resemble a beetle Ichi lets himself in the
room and is promptly questioned and bashed by
the rapist. Reduced to tears Ichi suddenly lashes
out cutting down his foe in a surprising way with
a razor sharp knife hidden in his boot. Ichi then
offers to continue beating the girl which she
accepts. Ichi then gets too enthusiastic.
Back to Kakihara who has been thrown out of the
syndicate. He decides to take control of the Anjo
gang himself and the only dissenter has to deal
with his needle work. Kakihara also teams up further
with Karen the boss's girl who he discovers
has sadistic abilities. The experience with Karen
soon turns sour for Kakihara and it only becomes
a matter of time before he will have to face off
with Ichi. A face off literally occurs in the
next scene (and slides down the wall) where Ichi's
mission to rid the world of all bullies is revealed
in full bloody detail. It also becomes apparent
that Ichi has had his mind seriously twisted by
arch manipulator Jijii. After some nipple slicing
one of Kakihara's torture assistants dons a set
of bear ears, sniffs a torture victim's vagina
and is back on the trail of Ichi. When attacked
Kakihara removes the sleepers from the slits that
widen his mouth to his cheeks and some seriously
crazy violence occurs. After being accidentally
run down Ichi is propositioned by Tachibana the
English-speaking driver who takes him home and
sucks him off. Ichi's enthusiasm gets the worst
of him again and sets the scene for the showdown
between Kakihara, Ichi, and a fallen cop and his
young son on a roof top.
The finale is by turns funny, sad, surprising
and in the last scene, mysterious. Jijii also
contributes several surprising final revelations. |
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