Tom's Media Scrapbook

Dir. Takeshi Miiki
Year: 2001
Cert: 18

Imdb link

Takeshi Miike is not a man to play it safe. Ichi (based on the Manga of the same name) is a peculiar fusion of Japanese pop-cultural touchstones; pop-music, stylised (and in this case immensely gratuitous) violence, Yakuza revenge flicks, sexual deviation, awkward pitch black comedy, Manga-esque anti-heroics, ridiculous hair and flamboyant costumes…

And it almost works. We are introduced to Kakihara, a sadomasochistic (with emphasis on the masochistic) Yakuza enforcer (with slit up face and a dis-locatable jaw accessories) and his search to track down Ichi, a soft spoken psychotic killer who cries after his murders and is known as an ‘ultimate sadist’. Initial motives of revenge due to the disappearance of Kakihara’s gang boss segue into a bizarre longing. Maybe Ichi can deliver the pain (read: pleasure) he desires and is so often denied. Unfortunately Ichi the Killer struggles to find its tone, at once overtly serious and jarringly ridiculous (a characters head is superimposed upon a body-builder’s), scenes veer between dull furrow-browed exposition and exploitative (and regularly misogynistic) horror and sexual perversion; after the first lingering torture sequence the tone is set and rarely lets up.

If extremist cinema is your game then indeed Ichi represents an important step in pushing the limits of the genre. The film is not without it’s share of memorable images and imaginative shocks (most involving cut-up body parts) and in rare moments it seems to find its groove; a nightmarish cartoon come to life with grimy film stock emulating the feel of snuff cinema. But eventually all potent elements crumble as scenes degenerate into obscure plot developments, ridiculous overacting and sub-par visual effects. Understandably cult-viewing and there’s strong evidence for a true auteur at work. But those wishing to sample Miike at his most searing may want to start with Audition.

2 stars (out of 5)