Directors Consensus -- Takashi Miike

[Ezee E]

Remember... it must be over 30 minutes to count:

Oh boy...

http://www.legendsofhorror.org/images/miike/tmpic1.jpg
Results & Rules (http://match-cut.org/showthread.php?t=426)

[Spinal]

By the time these results are counted, Miike will have made four more films.

[Ezee E]

By the time these results are counted, Miike will have made four more films.
This is true.

[Spinal]

Audition - 5.5
Happiness of the Katakuris - 3.5

[ledfloyd]

Ichi the Killer - Ichi (1.0)
Gozu - 3.0

[Stay Puft]

Audition - 4
Ichi the Killer - 4

[Sven]

Audition - 7 (unresolved issues of subjectivity leave it open to be, despite its potential quality, one of the lamest movies ever)
Dead or Alive - 4 (a quality ending stuck onto a miasma of hyper mediocrity)
Ichi the Killer - 5 (Meh on a meh stick, this is one of the meh-est things that ever mehhed)
Happiness of the Katakuris - 9 (gotta love this one, though)
Imprint - 5 (so, like, totally overrated)

[Sven]

Audition - 4
Ichi the Killer - 4

Really? I'm realizing now that I always took it for granted that you were a fan.

[Sycophant]

Young Thugs: Nostalgia - 7.0
The Bird People in China - 9.5
Audition - 9.0
Dead or Alive - 9.0
City of Lost Souls - 7.0
Dead or Alive 2: Birds - 10.0
Visitor Q - 9.0
Ichi the Killer - 8.0
The Happiness of the Katakuris - 10.0
Dead or Alive: Final - 7.5
Yakuza Demon - 5.5
IZO - 9.5
The Great Yokai War - 8.0
Imprint - 4.0
Big Bang Love Juvenile A - 9.0
Sukiyaki Western Django - 8.0

[Silencio]

Audition - 7.5

[Mysterious Dude]

Audition - 7.0
Ichi the Killer - 8.0

[Boner M]

Fudoh: The Next Generation - 6
Audition - 8
Ichi the Killer - 4.5
Box - 7.5

[MacGuffin]

Audition 5
Visitor Q 1.5
Ichi the Killer 1

Normally when it's been somewhere around two years since I saw the movie (in this situation, I'm referring to Audition and Ichi the Killer), I would be hesitant in participating in this sort of thing. However, I'm going to go ahead and do so anyways solely because of the impression those movies left on me, and that is to say, it was a pretty bad one. Basically, Audition just was for me. It didn't do much of anything. It just was. Provocative only because I didn't understand why people saw it to be so provocative. As for Ichi the Killer, it's practically a movie based off of stylish excess, which is a kind way of saying it sucks. It really does nothing, and while I think I saw an edited for Hollywood Video version, I'm almost glad. That was bad enough and I can only imagine how much more gratuitous excess I may have missed. Visitor Q was more of the same.

[soitgoes...]

The Bird People in China (1998) - 7.5
Audition (1999) - 8.5
Dead or Alive (1999) - 6.5
The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) - 7.5
Visitor Q (2001) - 8.0

[Philosophe_rouge]

Audition 8

[EyesWideOpen]

Shinjuku Triad Society - 7
Fudoh: The New Generation - 9
Rainy Dog - 7
Full Metal Yakuza - 7.5
The Bird People in China - 9
Andromedia - 5
Audition - 9
Dead or Alive - 8
The City of Lost Souls - 6.5
Dead or Alive 2 - 8.5
Visitor Q - 9
Ichi the Killer - 10
The Happiness of the Katakuris - 7.5
Dead or Alive: Final - 7
Deadly Outlaw Rekka - 7
Gozu - 8.5
Yakuza Demon - 8
One Missed Call - 6.5
Zebraman - 8
Box - 8.5
Izo - 6.5
The Great Yokai War - 8
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A - 8.5
Imprint - 6.5
Sukiyaki Western Django - 8.5

[Bosco B Thug]

Audition - 7 (unresolved issues of subjectivity leave it open to be, despite its potential quality, one of the lamest movies ever)
Dead or Alive - 4 (a quality ending stuck onto a miasma of hyper mediocrity)
Ichi the Killer - 5 (Meh on a meh stick, this is one of the meh-est things that ever mehhed)
Happiness of the Katakuris - 9 (gotta love this one, though)
Imprint - 5 (so, like, totally overrated)
What was that issue of subjectivity again with Audition? I remember it being discussed. I promise I won't exacerbate the issue. :D

Audition - 9/10
Imprint - 4.5/10
The Happiness of the Katakuris - 8/10 (love at a 9/10 level, though)
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A - 7/10
Box - 6.5/10
One Missed Call - 7/10

I've seen Dead or Alive (I think it kinda bored me), Dead or Alive 2 (I think I found it solid), Visitor Q (impressed me), City of Lost Souls (saw it at young age, my first Miike, thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen), Gozu (I think I could compare my feelings to this to my feelings to 'Big Bang Love'), and Ichi the Killer (put me off), but I can't rightfully rate them, it's been too long.

[Derek]

Audition - 6.0
Dead or Alive - 4.0

[Winston*]

Audition - 7
Ichi the Killer - 3
One Missed Call - 7

[Qrazy]

Audition - 7 (unresolved issues of subjectivity leave it open to be, despite its potential quality, one of the lamest movies ever)


What the hell, does anyone on this site have any respect for negative capability in art? Does everything need to be cut and dried?

The Bird People in China - 7
Audition - 7.5
Dead or Alive - 4
The Happiness of the Katakuris - 3
Sukiyaki Western Django - 6.5

[Ezee E]

Audition - 9
Dead or Alive - 2.5
Visitor Q - 1
Ichi the Killer - 2
Gozu - 2
Box - 8.5
Imprint - 7

I guess it's either love or hate with his stuff.

[Sven]

What the hell, does anyone on this site have any respect for negative capability in art?

Say what? Does this have anything to do with what I said?


Does everything need to be cut and dried?

'Course not, silly. However, when a filmmaker is taking the ambiguous route, I still respect s/he who can clearly demarcate their ambiguous vision.

[Ezee E]

What the hell, does anyone on this site have any respect for negative capability in art? Does everything need to be cut and dried?


Look at our last consensus.

[Ezee E]

From Raiders:

Audition - 7.5
Ichi the Killer - 4.0

[dreamdead]

The Bird People In China - 5.5
Dead or Alive - 6.5 (extra point and a half for that finale)
Audition - 7.5
Ichi the Killer - 5
Visitor Q - 5
The Happiness of the Katakuris - 5
Gozu - 5

[Yxklyx]

Audition - 6
The Happiness of the Katakuris - 4

[D_Davis]

Fudoh - 8.5
Full Metal Yakuza - 6
The Bird People of China - 7
Audition - 6.5
Dead or Alive - 7
City of Lost Souls - 7.5
Dead or Alive 2: Birds - 9
Visitor Q - 6
Ichi the Killer - 7
The Happiness of the Katakuris- 6
Dead or Alive Final - 4
Graveyard of Honor - 6.5
Deadly Outlat Rekka - 7
Gozu - 5.5
One Missed Call - 7
Izo - 6.5
The Great Yokai War - 8
Sukiyaki Western Django - 10

[Llopin]

Sukiyaki Western Django - 6
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A - 7
The Great Yokai War - 6.5
Izo - 4
Zebraman - 8
One Missed Call - 6
Gozu - 7
Graveyard of Honor - 7.5
The Happiness of the Katakuris - 6.5
Ichi the Killer - 7
Visitor Q - 8
Dead or Alive 2 - 6
The City of Lost Souls - 8
Dead or Alive - 6.5
Audition - 8
Ley Lines - 9
Young Thugs: Nostalgia - 7.5
Blues Harp - 8
The Bird People in China - 8
Rainy Dog - 8
Fudoh: The New Generation - 7
Shinjuku Triad Society - 7

[Melville]

Audition - 8
Visitor Q - 7
Ichi the Killer - 5

[balmakboor]

Fudoh: The New Generation - 6
Audition - 8
Ichi the Killer - 4
The Happiness of the Katakuris - 5

[Qrazy]

Say what? Does this have anything to do with what I said?

'Course not, silly. However, when a filmmaker is taking the ambiguous route, I still respect s/he who can clearly demarcate their ambiguous vision.

Ah Ok well I'm not big of Miike but what did you find unambiguous about the demarcation in Audition?

[Rowland]

The Bird People of China - 8
Audition - 8
One Missed Call - 6
Box - 6

[Grouchy]

Full Metal Yakuza - 7
Audition - 10
The Guys from Paradise - 8
Kumamoto Monogatari - 1
Ichi the Killer - 10
One Missed Call - 7
Zebraman - 5
Three Extremes: Box - 8
Big Bang Love - 9
Masters of Horror: Imprint - 10
Sukiyaki Western Django - 10

[D_Davis]

Sukiyaki Western Django - 10

http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/article/786/786873/the-office-20070509042910482.jpg

"Nice."

[Kurosawa Fan]

Audition - 8.5

[Grouchy]

I got a review (http://www.match-cut.org/showthread.php?p=56035#post560 35) up.

[trotchky]

Audition - 9
Box - 10
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A - 7.5

[Russ]

Audition - 8
Dead or Alive - 7
Dead or Alive 2 - 7.5
Visitor Q - 9
Ichi the Killer - 7
The Happiness of the Katakuris - 7.5
Dead or Alive: Final - 4
Gozu - 8.5
Box - 9
The Great Yokai War - 6.5
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A - 9.5

I still want to see The Bird People In China and Sukiyaki Western Django.

[origami_mustache]

The Bird People In China - 7
Audition - 7
Visitor Q - 9.5
Ichi the Killer -6
Gozu - 7.5
Box [short] - 9.5
Zebraman - 6
Big Bang Love Juvenile A - 7.5
Sukiyaki Western Django - 7.5

[Sven]

Ah Ok well I'm not big of Miike but what did you find unambiguous about the demarcation in Audition?

I wish there were a clearer model of reality/unreality. If what we see in the film is supposed to have actually happened to the character, the film is nihilistic nonsense. If what we see is a projection, it is possibly brilliant. And I think the film is too wishy-washy about which model to accept or dramatize. It becomes a wash of ambiguity and nothing matters.

Do note that I give it a positive score, mostly for its insanely excellent lead performance (this film made Ishibashi one of my favorites) and its potential. Watching it again will either bolster or destroy any positive impressions I have of it, so I'm hesitant to do so.

[D_Davis]

Audition works as a film that sets up a frightening and absurd situation for the main character and the audience.

Why does it matter if the events actually happened to the character or not?

[Sven]

Audition works as a film that sets up a frightening and absurd situation for the main character and the audience.

Why does it matter if the events actually happened to the character or not?

If you can accept the absurdity without question, I can see why you wouldn't think it mattered. I cannot.

[D_Davis]

I cannot.

Why?

[Sven]

Why?

Because it doesn't make sense for me to accept it unquestioningly. There's a very defined current of social realism contrasting with the surreal horror in Audition. And I need to figure out how the film reconciles those disparate qualities. That's the way I watch 'em. I don't go for experience so much as thematic congruity. It's similar to the argument of yore, about the "theatrical experience" v. the living room experience. I don't find the latter much less compelling, because I value text over immersion.

Exceptions abound, but Miike does not qualify.

[Spinal]

I agree to the extent that Audition feels most of all like a joke played on the audience. Like Miike created one kind of film solely so he could change the rules at his own whim. It's kind of a cheap way to land a sucker punch.

[DrewG]

Audition - 7.5
Visitor Q - 5
Ichi the Killer - 2.5
Box - 7

[D_Davis]

Because it doesn't make sense for me to accept it unquestioningly. There's a very defined current of social realism contrasting with the surreal horror in Audition. And I need to figure out how the film reconciles those disparate qualities.

I am still having trouble grasping why you think it is a problem, but it doesn't really matter.

I see Audition as a very simple little horror film that plays upon a very real and innocent fear: the fear of meeting someone new and starting a relationship. Much like how Lynch took the fear of becoming a father and turned it into a surreal nightmare, Eraserhead, Miike took his idea and twisted it into a very literal horrific situation.

Imagine all the crazy things you think about when you first meet that special someone (are they nice, are they clean, do they have a mutilated man in a sack?), and now, SURPRISE, not only are there secrets, but the secrets are scarier than you ever imagined!

I am not a huge fan of the film - I think it is almost too simple, and too literal. I would have liked for a Lynchian layer to kick the absurdity up a few hundred notches. Give me the man behind Lenny's!

I even saw it before all the hype and stuff, and I ended up fast forwarding a large portion of the film because it was so dull. I revisited it later and liked it a bit more, but I do think that Miike has made much better. I actually think One Missed Call is a better horror film.

[Sven]

Imagine all the crazy things you think about when you first meet that special someone (are they nice, are they clean, do they have a mutilated man in a sack?), and now, SURPRISE, not only are there secrets, but the secrets are scarier than you ever imagined!

I am not a huge fan of the film - I think it is almost too simple, and too literal. I would have liked for a Lynchian layer to kick the absurdity up a few hundred notches. Give me the man behind Lenny's!

Exactly! With a larger emphasis on the abstract expression of the man's fear/guilt/whatever, it could've been brilliant. But as a straightforward genre film, it fails to chill at all because its absurdity is not adequately juxtaposed with the film's straight execution. I fear that all the film is about is the anxiety of the mysteries of courtship, and if it is, it's terribly shallow and ultimately kinda stupid because the girl does not make sense in the film's "reality".

There are several gestures that lead me to believe that the latter half of the film (read: the effed up half) is the man's nightmare, which possibly come close to redeeming the pieces that don't add up.

[D_Davis]

Exactly! With a larger emphasis on the abstract expression of the man's fear/guilt/whatever, it could've been brilliant. But as a straightforward genre film, it fails to chill at all because its absurdity is not adequately juxtaposed with the film's straight execution. I fear that all the film is about is the anxiety of the mysteries of courtship, and if it is, it's terribly shallow and ultimately kinda stupid because the girl does not make sense in the film's "reality".

There are several gestures that lead me to believe that the latter half of the film (read: the effed up half) is the man's nightmare, which possibly come close to redeeming the pieces that don't add up.

Okay - I see where you are coming from now. I see what you are saying about the film's "reality."

I think we're on the same page, just approaching it from a different angle.

I liked the absurdity, but I wanted more absurdity. I needed the shit to hit the fan about 20 minutes earlier.

After I watched this, I was a kind of disappointed.

I did love the audition process, it was wonderfully cold and modern.

And then I watched Fudoh...HOLY BALLS!

Now this is absurdity to the Nth f-ing degree, and I love it for it. This is the film that really ignited my passion for Miike.

[Bosco B Thug]

Hmm, I don't see what is so incongruously unrealistic and absurd about the climax of the film. Are you saying this

psychotic woman invading a man's home and torturing him is above believability?

Probably not... you (iosos) are saying it goes from "straight execution" to gratuitous horror without proper juxtaposition... I disagree. Just like with The Host, where it is easy to see it as clumsily, shallowly trading off between comedy and drama, I'd argue Audition is tonally very steady, that it doesn't change from "realism" to horror film in any way drastic or cheap, and that the film doesn't just throw the violence at us without set-up. I found the set-up very intelligent and very gradual.

Things don't just go sinister all of a sudden. From the first few dates to the beachside getaway to even the flopping tongue, we are gradually allowed to assess that there is something wrong with this woman, that there is something deeply sad about the two main characters, and that both of them do in fact have real emotional stakes in the path they're headed. Then there is that "dream sequence" which is masterful and awesome and allows a build up to the shocking final scene.

It would be cheating the film to say it's simply about the risks and uncertainties of relationships with a clever, extreme horror twist - it's about sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, sexual humiliation, emotional trauma, memory and denial, constructed and deluded emotional realities, romantic prejudices, etc. The dream sequence masterfully melds the desires and fears of a number of different characters: the crazy woman's desire to truthfully divest of herself the tale of her past abuse, the dead wife's suspicious and jealous warnings, the lead character's physical fears and sexual guilts, and, acknowledging the film's very affecting subplot, that of his secretary and the suggested sexual exploitation she underwent with the lead himself.

[Sven]

Nicely put, Bosco, though it is publicly known that evoking The Host in an attempt to persuade me of a positive opinion is not going to be your best tactic.

Everything that you say about it is reason why I rate the film positively--because I do think that a lot of what you say is at least suggested, if not outright attempted. But I don't think Miike is nuanced enough to pull it off. It seems like a begrudging attempt to maintain the pathos of a screenplay interested in things that he is not. Not all the time, but with a crucial enough influence for me to think that it's not entirely successful, and possibly damagingly naive. Without seeing the film again, I'm afraid I can't get much more specific than that.

[Qrazy]

I wish there were a clearer model of reality/unreality. If what we see in the film is supposed to have actually happened to the character, the film is nihilistic nonsense. If what we see is a projection, it is possibly brilliant. And I think the film is too wishy-washy about which model to accept or dramatize. It becomes a wash of ambiguity and nothing matters.


This is exactly what I was talking about. It's not wishywashiness, it's negative capability. The ambiguity is central to what makes the film such a provoking experience (subtextual social mores/chauvinism).

[Sven]

This is exactly what I was talking about. It's not wishywashiness, it's negative capability. The ambiguity is central to what makes the film such a provoking experience (subtextual social mores/chauvinism).

I do not get the connection. Expound.

[Qrazy]

I agree to the extent that Audition feels most of all like a joke played on the audience. Like Miike created one kind of film solely so he could change the rules at his own whim. It's kind of a cheap way to land a sucker punch.

The narrative conceit is nothing special (leaving things an open question) since we've seen it countless times before, but it's still a perfectly reasonable tool with which to spring board a film's central themes... (recently discussed films) American Psycho, Gone to Earth, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz. In some films it's cheap and beside the point Donnie Darko, Secret Window, etc... but in those others it's central to the story whether it be as a window into psychosis, a window into the supernatural, a window into the imagination, or in the case of Audition a window into critical social subtext (gender roles). Miike doesn't change the rules at a whim in Audition as he does in say Katakuris with arbitrary claymation shifts... the ambiguity is fairly well routed through the film.

Allowing for this ambiguity also allows Miike to negotiate with the audiences primal responses to horror films... is this horror really occuring to the characters or as an audience can we distance ourselves knowing it's 'all just a dream'. Bearing in mind the fact that the whole film is all 'just a dream' anyway why is it that the horror is 'real' for us one minute but 'not real' the next? Why does Iosis think the film is nihilistic garbage if it's one thing but brilliant if it's the other? It's still all just somebody's dream anyway isn't it? Miike's film is able to have it's horror, to subvert it's horror and then reinstate that horror all with total ease.

In many ways I find the film to be a more potent genre deconstruction than Haneke's Funny Games, without any of the requisite condescension of the latter picture.

[Qrazy]

I do not get the connection. Expound.

I didn't really expound all that much on why I think the ambiguity is such a versatile springboard for social gender critique, maybe later... final exam tomorrow.

[Sven]

I can't deny that you raise good points, but I'd say that the difference between this and Alice in Wonderland is that Carroll's creation is clear in its ambiguities, where Audition is not. Too many people deny the ambiguity exists, which makes sense to me because I cannot tell if Miike is concerned with it to an essential enough degree. I await your defense, should you so happen to do it.

[Qrazy]

I can't deny that you raise good points, but I'd say that the difference between this and Alice in Wonderland is that Carroll's creation is clear in its ambiguities, where Audition is not. Too many people deny the ambiguity exists, which makes sense to me because I cannot tell if Miike is concerned with it to an essential enough degree. I await your defense, should you so happen to do it.

Ah OK I'm starting to see what you mean now... that you feel (like D) that more weight needed to be added to the dream side of things to balance the equation. On that front I agree with Bosco's post. I think there's plenty of 'weirdness' sprinkled throughout (just an odd dynamic, the tongue, B's other references) to raise our erm... 'reality eyebrow' very early on and push the viewer into a state of doubt.

[Sven]

I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily for more weirdness. I just don't think that Miike was interested in the interplay between the reality and non-reality. And like I said to BBT, that's pretty much all I can say without watching it again. I couldn't bring many specifics to this, just what I remember thinking after I saw it some years ago.

[Grouchy]

I don't find the reality/dream part of Audition near the end to be all that ambiguous. I think, like a lot of the film, it's a cruel joke played on the audience - and I refuse to believe the ending didn't really happen. But if Audition is a joke, that doesn't cheapen the quality of the movie, because so is Psycho, and they're both in the same page as far as upsetting the audience's expectations. Plus, they're both twisted love stories. I'll even go as far as to say that Audition is Hitchcockian and the natural consequence of extreme audience manipulation.

Ironically, I find Audition relates to the theater vs. home viewing discussion. On a home viewing, it's easy to be bored and fast-forward the slow pacing and seemingly randomness and uneventfulness of the first 30 minutes. But Miike wanted those minutes to be purposefully boring, so when he peels the layers of reality and shows the meek woman for what she really is, it's even more of a shock. Like the tongue shot or the sack scenes, they're seriously jolting moments. I can't even begin to imagine how disturbing it must be in the theater.

[Mysterious Dude]

An addition:

The Great Yokai War - 5.5

Not impressed. Seemed like a Japanese version of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.

[Qrazy]

I don't find the reality/dream part of Audition near the end to be all that ambiguous. I think, like a lot of the film, it's a cruel joke played on the audience - and I refuse to believe the ending didn't really happen. But if Audition is a joke, that doesn't cheapen the quality of the movie, because so is Psycho, and they're both in the same page as far as upsetting the audience's expectations. Plus, they're both twisted love stories. I'll even go as far as to say that Audition is Hitchcockian and the natural consequence of extreme audience manipulation.

Ironically, I find Audition relates to the theater vs. home viewing discussion. On a home viewing, it's easy to be bored and fast-forward the slow pacing and seemingly randomness and uneventfulness of the first 30 minutes. But Miike wanted those minutes to be purposefully boring, so when he peels the layers of reality and shows the meek woman for what she really is, it's even more of a shock. Like the tongue shot or the sack scenes, they're seriously jolting moments. I can't even begin to imagine how disturbing it must be in the theater.

I agree that the first half hour is essential to set everything up and without it the horror sequences lose so much of their terror... but I don't agree that it's boring as many on the thread seem to feel. The performances were strong enough and the technique inventive enough that my interest was thoroughly maintained throughout.

[Qrazy]

Audition - 9
Dead or Alive - 2.5
Visitor Q - 1
Ichi the Killer - 2
Gozu - 2
Box - 8.5

I guess it's either love or hate with his stuff.

I think you'll probably like The Bird People in China.

[Ezee E]

I think you'll probably like The Bird People in China.
Thanks. I'm checking out that one and his Masters of Horror film this week.

[Grouchy]

I agree that the first half hour is essential to set everything up and without it the horror sequences lose so much of their terror... but I don't agree that it's boring as many on the thread seem to feel. The performances were strong enough and the technique inventive enough that my interest was thoroughly maintained throughout.
On my second viewing, I agree. On my first viewing, I was getting kind of bored by it until the shock moments started to appear.

Of course, first time I saw it I was with two friends in front of a PC screen, so that might've been it too. Still it managed to disturb me to no end.

[Bosco B Thug]

Nicely put, Bosco, though it is publicly known that evoking The Host in an attempt to persuade me of a positive opinion is not going to be your best tactic. Ah, I knew it, you're one of those people! :P


But I don't think Miike is nuanced enough to pull it off.

possibly damagingly naive. Yeah, I'd consider these... for the mere fact Miike's not Altman :) - but Audition always surprises me with its sophisticated formal sense, which is infused with macabre wit and social sense. I think Miike has a knack for a "stately" style as done here... although his Masters of Horror ep was too stately without being dynamic. I think same with Box. And is it just me or do both those short films from him end with bizarre twists that are weird but not really meaningful?

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Audition - 5
Ichi the Killer - 3
Happiness of the Katakuris - 6
Izo - 5

[Ezee E]

Added Imprint to the list. I gave it a seven. While Miike does great work with the flashbacks, the story itself is pretty silly, and the main actor is simply horrible to watch when in the present. He looks like a bad version of David Carradine in Kill Bill.

[Thirdmango]

The Happiness of the Katakuris - 9

[Sycophant]

The Happiness of the Katakuris - 9Is that all the Miike you've seen? For shame.

That goes for a lot of you, actually.

[rocus]

I agree with iosis that Audition is a guilt driven dream, and that the torture isn't real. Here's what I wrote after I saw it, which pretty much sums up the guilt-dream angle (I'll spoiler tag it just in case):

Just like Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter who physically punished himself for his sin, Shigehara’s subconscious is using Asami to try to purge himself of his guilt. Guilt he feels for wanting another wife (as shown when he turns his dead wife’s picture away when looking through the candidates). Guilt he feels for misleading the many actresses who auditioned for the phony role. Guilt he feels for sleeping with his secretary. Guilt he feels for lusting after his son’s young girlfriend. And finally, guilt he feels for deceiving Asami throughout their relationship.

“Words create lies. Pain can be trusted,” Asami tells him as she pushes another needle into his stomach. “Deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper,” she says excitedly, as Shigehara tries to atone for his sins. His shame and paranoia are so entrenched that, even when he wakes up and Asami accepts his proposal, he falls asleep to the same nightmare. In the end, Shigehara is saved from his torture by his son, the one person with whom he feels he’s been honest and straightforward. Miike leaves us with an ambiguous ending, letting us be the judges of whether Shigehara has found the redemption he has been seeking.

[Qrazy]

Moral of the story: Don't let guilt run your life.

[Thirdmango]

Is that all the Miike you've seen? For shame.

That goes for a lot of you, actually.

Pretty nuts eh? Having all you Miike heads all around and I only saw that one.

[Ezee E]

This will not be compiled until tomorrow. Sorry. Sickness.

[Ezee E]

RESULTS
1. Dead or Alive 2 - 8.2 (5)
2. Big Bang Love, Juvenile A - 8.13 (8)
3. Box - 8.05 (10)
4. Fudoh - 7.63 (4)
5. The Bird People in China - 7.61 (9)
6. Audition - 7.47 (32)
7. City of Lost Souls - 7.25 (4)
8. The Great Yokai War - 7.07 (7)
9. Sujiyaki Western Django - 7.0 (9)
10. Zebraman - 6.75 (4)
11. The Happiness of the Katakuris - 6.5 (15)
12. Visitor Q - 6.5 (12)
13. One Missed Call - 6.39 (9)
14. Izo - 6.3 (5)
15. Imprint - 6.17 (6)
16. Dead or Alive - 5.91 (11)
17. Gozu - 5.88 (8)
18. Dead or Alive: Final - 5.63 (4)
19. Ichi the Killer - 5.05 (22)
= 6.80

DID NOT QUALIFTY:
Shinjuku Triad Society - 7.0 (2)
Rainy Dog - 7.5 (2)
Full Metal Yakuza - 6.87 (3)
Young Thugs - 6.83 (3)
Blues Harp - 8.0 (8)
Leylines - 9.0 (1)
Andromedia - 5.0 (1)
Graveyard of Honor - 7.0 (2)
Deadly Outlaw Rekka - 7.0 (2)
Yakuza Demon - 6.75 (2)
The Guys from Paradise - 8 (1)
Kumamoto Monogatari - 1 (1)

[dreamdead]

I thought Box was considered the weakest of the 3 Extremes?

And I guess I'll finally rent DOA 2, though I'm supposed to expect something far more internal and less "anything-goes," right?

[Boner M]

I thought Box was considered the weakest of the 3 Extremes?
I thought it was pretty great. Dumplings is better though. Cut really stinks up the joint.

[dreamdead]

I thought it was pretty great. Dumplings is better though. Cut really stinks up the joint.

Interesting. I only watched the full-length of Dumplings 'cos I thought the others were reviled by most. I guess I'll try to get the Miike top five here at some point this year, as I always seem to give the man another chance (a fact I attribute largely to the man's filmography being so extensive)...