Ichi the Killer [Blu-ray]

Director: Takashi Miike Takashi Miike

Overview

Maverick auteur Takashi Miike spins this unsettling, blood-soaked yakuza yarn adapted from Hideo Yamamoto's cult manga Koroshiya 1. When mob don Anjo mysteriously disappears, his protégé Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano) vows to find the people responsible. Sporting a blond head of hair and a yawning, pierced slash for a mouth, Kakihara is no ordinary gangster and his methods are equally unorthodox; he impales one poor suspect's naked body on a series of meat hooks and then dumps hot oil on him. Meanwhile, a shadowy character known as Jijii (played by director Shinya Tsukamoto) deftly manipulates, for his own nefarious ends, Ichi (Nao Omori), an unbalanced but ruthless killing machine clad in a superhero suit. Pining for the sadistic abuse of his boss, Kakihara learns of Ichi from a Hong Kong hostess (Alien Sun) and sets out to find this fabled butcher, hoping he can inflict the pain that Kakihara craves. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival as a part of the Midnight Madness program.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/20/2018
UPC:	0812491019658
Original Release:	2001
Source:	Well Go Usa
Language:	English
Sales rank:	12,257

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tadanobu Asano	Kakihara
Nao Omori	Ichi
Shinya Tsukamoto	Jijii
Alien Sun	Paulyn Sun
Hiroyuki Tanaka	Actor
Susumu Terajima	Actor
Karera Musication	Composer

Technical Credits

Sakichi Sato

Takashi Miike	Director
Dai Miyazaki	Producer
Sakichi Sato	Screenwriter
Akiko Funatsu	Producer
Albert Yeung	Executive Producer
Sumiji Miyake	Executive Producer
Toyoyuki Yokohama	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

In Takashi Miike's freakishly intense world, the tormentor and the tormented are locked in a cycle of retribution and outlandish violence where torture, dismemberment, and evisceration are the norm. Crisply edited and employing some mind-boggling camera techniques, the film -- as in Miike's other works -- creates mordantly funny moments that are as pungent as they are memorable. At one point, Kakihara, as an act of atonement, cuts off his pierced tongue only to take a cell phone call immediately afterwards. At another, a cascade of blood, bowels, and body parts spills into a hallway immediately after Ichi enters a room. Yet for all of Miike's visual invention and wit, the film's dubious treatment of women might leave a bad taste in the mouth of the most hardened Asian cult film buff. Every woman in the flick is brutalized in a manner that borders on the pornographic (including rape and genital mutilation) and then killed. While some might be exhilarated by Miike's brilliant camera work and imagery, others might be inclined to take a bath.

All Movie Guide - Jonathan Crow