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Cast:
Nao
Omori
Shinya
Tsukamoto
Alien
Sun
Tadanobu
Asano
Susumu
Terajima
Toru
Tezuka
Producer:
Akiko
Funatsu
Dai
Miyazaki
Director:
Takashi
Miike
Score:
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ICHI
THE KILLER
AKA:
Koroshiya
Ichi || Koroshiya 1
Year:
2001 Reviewer: Rob
Daniel
Takashi
Miike's 'Ichi the Killer' has become a by-word for cinematic
atrocity and the zenith of screen depravity.
As gleefully vile as Hideo Yamamoto’s source manga,
it continues Miike's fascination with bizarre love affairs and
violent consequences previously seen in 'Dead or Alive' and
'Audition'. Both
those movies drew criticism for the graphic imagery, but
nothing prepares an audience for the unrelenting onslaught of
'Ichi the Killer'.
Look
past the carnage however and there is a well-crafted tale of
the weirdest characters never to appear in a David Lynch
movie, centred on the bizarre love story of a twisted yakuza
Kakihara (Asano) and his quest for that special someone who
can provide the pinnacle of pain.
The
basic story is simple, expertly distilled by Sakichi Sato from
Yamamoto's multi-volume manga.
Ichi (Omori) murders a yakuza boss, on the
orders of the mysterious Jiji (Tsukamoto).
Kakihara refuses to believe his boss is dead, and is
mislead by Jiji into torturing a rival yakuza.
Expelled from the syndicate for his conduct, Kakihara
begins his journey for Anjo's killer, partly for revenge but
also to savour in person the pain and fear Ichi is bringing
down on his gang.
Joining
Ichi and Kakihara for the ride are Karen (Sun), Kakihara's
unhinged squeeze and Kaneko (Sabu), a down on his luck ex-cop
turned yakuza bodyguard, plus a memorable rogues'
gallery of pimps, gangsters and other lowlifes.
Although
the carnage and nihilism can be overwhelming, 'Ichi the
Killer' is not merely the work of shock amateurs.
Visually, the film is handsomely shot by regular Miike
DP Hideo Yamamoto (not the manga's author), with Shinjuku,
Tokyo's notorious neon-drenched red light district, turned
into a level of Dante's Inferno.
Miike frequently employs surveillance cameras and video
to give the images a voyeuristic quality, and he realizes the
possibilities of CGI far better than most of his Western
contemporaries.
Although
the story is straightforward, Miike drops the audience
directly into a fully formed yakuza world with little
introduction, denying them a single sympathetic main
character, and subverting expectations.
Ichi is ostensibly a superhero, fighting
"bullies" with a preternatural strength and a cool
black outfit with a yellow "1" emblazoned on the
back, but he is also under the mind-control of Jiji and
fuelled by his excitement of a rape he witnessed in high
school.
In
the opening minutes Ichi spies on the vicious assault of
Sailor, his favourite prostitute, but rather than rescuing her
he leaves a deposit of semen that morphs into the film's
title. Even
Kaneko, whose hard-luck story makes him a typical underdog,
loses the audience by kicking a woman to death.
What
prevents 'Ichi the Killer' from becoming a gruelling 'Guinea
Pig' clone is a razor-sharp streak of black humour, and the
unreal use of CGI. To
atone for his transgressions the sweet-toothed Kakihara slices
off the end of his tongue in a toe-curling moment of
hysterical excess, only to receive a call on his mobile.
Grim comic excess punctuates the film: the first
display of Ichi's power comes when he cuts Sailor's pimp
lengthways in two, Kakihara puffs cigarette smoke through two
large cuts in his cheeks, he and Karen bond while ripping off
a restaurant manager's face, and a psychopathic police
detective hunts down Longie, a member of Jiji's gang, by
tracking his girlfriend's "scent".
Yet,
'Ichi the Killer' is an apocalyptic movie with a pessimistic
view of human relationships.
The one affectionate relationship, between Longie and
his girlfriend, ends with her torture (including an infamous
nipple slicing) for information on his whereabouts.
This violence against women drew a lot of flack
(particularly from the BBFC who cut 3 minutes and fifteen
seconds primarily for this reason) but the violence and rape
is so grotesque that any censorship succeeds only in making it
more palatable. The
sexual violence is presented as violence, not as titillation,
but that it depicts the horror so convincingly may be what
upset the BBFC who have little trouble with Hollywood's more
"agreeable" depictions of assault.
Asano
as Kakihara and Omori as Ichi fully inhabit their roles.
Asano, bleached-blond and emaciated, differs from his
dark-haired, muscular manga counterpart, but his bravura
performance is reminiscent of Malcolm McDowell in 'A Clockwork
Orange', dominating the screen with his lethal cockiness.
Omori goes to the opposite extreme, presenting Ichi as
a tragic, manipulated child, making his actions all the more
difficult to stomach. These
central players are but two fascinating characters, with
supporting characters vividly brought to life by directors
Tsukamoto (of 'Tetsuo' fame) and Sabu, and the Hong Kong
actress Sun.
'Ichi
the Killer' is a difficult film.
The graphic imagery can be hard to defend other than it
is highly unlikely to deprave or corrupt, while the disparate
plot-threads and enigmatic ending, which forgoes a
conventional stand-off for surrealism, will baffle and bore
many viewers. But
for those prepared for difficult material and subject matter
it is a stylish, gripping example of fearless, maverick
cinema.
Miike
went onto the heartwarming 'The Happiness of the Katakuris'
after 'Ichi the Killer', his "life" film to balance
his "death" film.
That the same director can switch between moods so
effortlessly and make five other films in the same
year, including the astonishing 'Visitor Q', demonstrates
Miike's almost supernatural affinity with his chosen medium.
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