So I just caught Ichi The Killer, one of Takashi Miike’s masterworks that had Asano Tadanobu in one of the lead roles, alongside Nao Omori, who played the titular character. Most of the promo at the time when the film was out had a picture of Tadanobu with his augmented face, a lower jaw held in place by 2 piercings. (In the film, he takes them off to allow his lower jaw to drop further, turning his mouth into a weapon in a fight.)
This was back in ‘01 of course and I could hardly recognize Tadanobu and also hardly paid much attention to the film because it was being lauded as a gore flick. My ignorance probably led to the much delayed viewing, some 7 years later. The film is awkward in parts and has an ending that can be kinda confusing but also happens to be really over the top in terms of violence and perversion. I suppose that is the film’s bright spark, that its actually quite funny in how beyond violent it becomes, with all the blood and bodies getting sliced apart and spleens flying and shit.
The film centers around two main characters, Tadanobu’s Kakihara and Omori’s Ichi. The former is the flamboyant, unconventional, sado-masochistic yakuza hell bent on finding out what happened to his boss, Ando. The latter is the quiet, shy and timid weakling who dons a superhero getup to exact revenge. There are a whole host of side characters with a whole host of side stories.
Kakihara wonders which corpse would best accessorize his trenchcoat.
As the film progresses, we learn that Kakihara isn’t that loyal to his boss but rather, he desires the pain that only Ando inflicted well. In the meantime, he gets by by beating people up in his path and torturing them in order to find out where the source of his pain/pleasure had gone to. One notable scene had Susumu Terajima hanging on a series of meathooks with only the skin on his back holding him up against gravity. The poor guy later returns mummified but still alive in a darkly comical fashion. Kakihara refuses to believe that Ando is dead, that is until he realises that Ichi might actually surpass him and possibly bring him greater excitement instead.
One person Kakihara gets a helping hand from, is Karen, played by Singapore’s very own Paulyn Sun who also goes by the curious Alien Sun, on account of the size of her head. Two thumbs up for some SG style schoolground humor. She is the one sore thumb, speaking her lines in a mix of Cantonese, Japanese and distinctly Singaporean English. Who’da thought that you’d find a Singaporean in a much heralded Japanese gore flick? Anyway, she is truly horrendous in her role, whether on purpose or otherwise, it didn’t matter because I had my best laughs at her expense during her climactic death scene which has her shrieking in absurdity, blood spurting from her neck. SG represent.
But I digress. Ichi is supposed to be the main draw and he is, as his character is the perviest of them all. He only ever gets a hard on from watching acts of violence. Ejaculating into a potted plant as he watches Ando beat up a prostitute. Ando spots him and gets mad of course, smacking Ichi around until the crybaby reaches maximum stress point, going from Jekyll to Hyde and slicing Ando in half with a well aimed downward kick. Ichi just so happens to be dressed in a ridiculous super hero kinda getup with a freaking pop out blade attached to his heels. The beat up prostitute thanks Ichi but that becomes her undoing as he then gets convinced he’s supposed to take over from Ando. The poor girl’s resignation to her fate is summed up by her facial expression as she mutters a thank you before her blood gets all over the apartment.
The trail of blood continues extensively and eventually, Ichi and Kakihara get into a final encounter and the story reaches a resolution of sorts.
Some people actually think this film actually contains some kind of diatribe about the degradation of man or some sort of spiel relating to how human violence is unrelenting or some such. I have no fucking idea what they were watching. What I saw was a film Tarantino would worship, only its completely unpretentious. It is what it is, simply a violent yakuza flick, nothing more nothing less. You can sensibly talk endlessly about the deeper meanings within but I find none there and feel pretty certain Miike or even Hideo Yamamoto, who wrote the manga that was the source for the film, ever had any such intensions. Its vulgar, disturbing, stomach churning and perverse. Its a Japanese gore flick like how Japanese gore flicks should be.
Incidentally, I also caught Ichi 1, the prequel to Ichi The Killer. Helmed in ultra low budget handheld camera style by Miike’s assistant, Masato Tanno, Ichi 1 traces how the pervy Ichi became a killer. Apparently, he just always got a hard on watching acts of violence, only being able to ejaculate when he was able to commit the same acts of violence afterward. Also, I think its his semen that’s supposed to be in the opening title sequence to “Killer”. Ew.
