Film: Ichi The Killer
Release date: 9th November 2009
Certificate: 18
Running time: 120 mins
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Shinya Tsukamoto
Genre: Crime
Studio: Cine Asia
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Based on Hideo Yamamoto’s manga, 2001’s (reissued on DVD at the end of 2009) Ichi The Killer has become infamous for its excessive graphic violence (few extreme asian films have come close), but does it offer anything more to viewers with a strong enough stomach, or those with a (worrying) craving for grotesque brutality?
Sadomasochist Kakihara is searching for his Yakuza boss, Anjo, who has disappeared along with 300 million of the mob’s yen.
Kakihara, who we discover has an intimate and disturbed relationship with Anjo (which he later attempts to recreate with a potential new girlfriend - but she is unable to inflict beatings with the necessary ferocity), heads an aggressive search for his beloved keeper that includes brutally torturing a rival Yakuza on the strength of a mysterious tipoff.
With the mentally imbalanced, and responsible vigilante Ichi continuing his Yakuzu killing spree with increasing spectacle, however, it’s not long before Kakihara is on the right track, disturbingly excited by the prospect of facing off with a man capable of such repellent actions…
The plot is simple enough, but director Takashi Miike manages to stretch proceedings out to over 120 minutes, all the time confusing viewers with experimental cinematographic techniques (although he thankfully tires of his initial penchant for altering the film’s speed), unnecessary sub plots, and the introduction of countless characters, who we know little to nothing about, and who either disappear or are quickly sacrificed to titillate gore fans. With the director cramming so much in unnecessarily, fairly vital flashbacks, seamlessly incorporated, could easily be missed and only compound the perplexity.
With the film-makers focus on blood splatter, following any kind of story is hard enough, and violent scenes are either sickeningly realistic (the mutation of the captured Yakuzu is distressing – hung on large hooks by the skin on his back whilst Kakihara pierces his face with giant needles, before pouring boiling oil onto his back – whilst his apology, to cut off his own tongue, is no less upsetting), or over-the-top and laughable (an arm is wrenched out of a socket following a long, entertaining struggle; a man is tortured inside a TV set; coagulated blood sprays out from neck wounds; a face is taken clean off, which we see sliding down a bloodied wall; a blade concealed in Ichi’s boot splits a man clean in two…).
Sexual dysfunction is a theme throughout (we see dripping semen during the title screen), and whilst you can laugh off Ichi chopping up and disembowelling criminals, the rape scenes are particularly unforgiving – in one scene, we see a Yakuzu boss beating a prostitute’s already ghastly swollen face.
As violence fluctuates between comical and depraved, and the film mixes abuse with some genuinely deft humour (the team bemoaning the mess they have to clean up after one of Ichi’s early massacres), the film lacks a coherent mood, but whether you’re ridiculing some fairly out there film-making or turning away, this is a twisted ride all the way – with the musical score, at least, consistently demented.
With two such outlandish characters as Ichi and Kakihara, both actors, Tadanobu Asano and Nao Omori respectively, have a hoot, and both creditably manage to standout.
Despite the excess, Ichi is the hero of the piece (illustrated by his leather ‘costume’), brainwashed and manipulated by former cop Jijii, and disposing of evil criminals. Although you never really warm to him, as the trembling wreck he is (we see him cowering under a blanket at his games console), not because of Tadanobu’s performance, but because the carnage doesn’t allow any connection.
Kakihara, of course, revels in it all. Facial piercings hold his extended mouth together (slits either side allow him to blow smoke out to good effect, although when he removes these to gnaw on a man’s fist the special effects are atrocious), whilst his facial scars and punk attire present the archetypal “bad boy”. There is no back story, or any hint of remorse or a sympathetic side to his character – he is pure evil (this is the cartoon element of the film).
When the film pulls everything together, you realise what an intelligent and thought provoking piece this should have been, with some neat revelations and strong messages, but by this point any potential impact has been lost.
Such a manic rollercoaster of a movie is always going to be worth a look, and there are several startling must-see scenes for any serious film fan, but this is hard going – and surely no sane person would enjoy viewing two hours of serious physical violence at the levels depicted here. DH
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