Ichi The Killer

Starring: Nao Omori, Tadanobu Asano Director: Takashi Miike Original UK Premiere: 2003 Dvd Release: 2nd June, 2003 Number Of Discs: 2 Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Collector's Edition, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

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Ichi the Killer is a highly controversial film directed by Takashi Miike & adapted from a manga by Hideo Yamamoto. The film stars Tadanobu Asano as Kakihara, a sadomasochist yakuza enforcer who enjoys giving & reciving pain in about equal measure. Kakiharas boss Anjo vanishes one night after he is murdered in a particularly gruesome fashion. A mysterious group arrives & cleans up all evidence of the murder & takes the 3 million yen Anjo had in his room. Many of Kakiharas compatriots, including his English & Chinese -speaking girlfriend Karen, suspect that Anjo simply took the money & ran, but Kakihara is convinced the man is alive. His investigation leads him to brutally torture a member of a rival clan, Suzuki by suspending him from a ceiling by putting metal hooks through the mans back, shoving stilettoes through his body & throwing boiling grease on him. To make restitution, Kakihara slices off part of his tongue & offers it to Suzukis boss.

Through a forum I joined to show appreciation for the Asian horror/thriller genre I was advised that Ichi would be right up my street. Fast moving, sporadically violent & consistently classy & gritty, I watched it twice in one night. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

The guy you see on the front cover has his mouth slit up each side so it can open fully & he can chew on people's hands...well, when your hungry...

He also has a taste for pain, likes to be hit & flagulated & his boss was always the best, so when he went missing, he starts a manhunt. You just have to believe that anyone who enjoys pain so much is going to be world class at dishing it out - hot frying oil, sharp needle like implements & a travelling piercing kit - the guy comes armed on his hunt for his missing boss.

There is a character running along side of this story just on the outside & he is severly messed up, a bit of a geek - he closes himself in his room, can't pleasure himself sexually as he has had incidents in his past that have greatly upset him, likes to play Tekken. Whilst they are living very different lives they end up coming together in a climatic battle though which no one should survive.

Loved it. Best advice I ever took buying the film, granted it didn't make complete sense first time through but I think that's because the site of a room filled with entrails & body parts left me reeling. Don't miss this one. You'll be sorry if you do. ICHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

Tadanobu Asano is a charismatic & versatile Japanese actor who has been described by critics as that countrys answer to Johnny Depp. Born to a half- American mother, his fair complexion & lighter-than-black eyes drew him qualifiably different attentions from his male & female schoolmates. His father, an actors agent, suggested he take on what became his first role, in the TV show Kimpachi Sensei, at the age of 16. His film debut was in the 1990 Swimming Upstream, though his first major critical success was in Shunji Iwai s Fried Dragon Fish. His first critical success internationally was Hirokazu Koreeda s Maboroshi no hikari, in which he played a man who inexplicably throws himself in front of a train, widowing his wife & orphaning his infant son. His best known works internationally are the samurai films Gohatto & Zatoichi. It was on the set of Iwais Picnic that he met & fell in love with J-Pop idol Chara. They married soon after learning she was pregnant with their first child, Sumile.

Editors Choice: Zatoichi, Cafe Lumiere, Ichi The Killer, Last Life In The Universe, Vital, View DVDology

Takashi Miike is a highly prolific Japanese filmmaker, having directed over sixty theatrical, video & television productions since his debut in 1991. For the years 2001 & 2002, he is credited with directing no fewer than fourteen productions. Many of his films contain graphic, almost cartoonish violence & bloodshed, criminals, or concern themselves with non-Japanese living in Japan, though there is considerable variety beyond this in some of his lesser releases. One aspect of his films for which he is also known is the seemingly deliberately ambiguous or merely unsatisfying endings to many of his films. The subsequent discussions of these films on Internet message_boards has added to the heightening of his cult status. He graduated from Yokohama Vocational School of Broadcast & Film, under the guidance of renowned filmmaker Shohei Imamura, the founder & Dean. Hanzaisha debuted in international film festivals & has a strong cult following in The West that is growing with the increase in DVD releases of his works. Posters Of Audition

Editors Choice: Happiness Of The Katakuris, Ichi The Killer, Agitator, Audition, Visitor Q, City Of Lost Souls, Dead Or Alive 2, Dead Or Alive, View DVDology

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