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Gozu (2003, Takashi Miike)
Gozu is initially an accessible and interesting Miike film. It begins with mild humour and the introduction of a 'crazy' Yakuza boss- Ozaki, in one scene throwing a small "yakuza attack dog" against a restaurant window (lol). The humour initially presented is slightly lost towards the end, at least i hope it is.
The film is very similar to Twin Peaks, the small town full of quirky inhabitants, but where the TV series format allowed us to recognize and emphasise with this variety of characters over the time of the series, a 120 minute film simply isn't long enough to develop such a diverse set of characters. This was the initial flaw i found in the film, characters would be built up and appear in a scene, and they are presented well and undoubtedly they have a rich and colourful personality but this is briefly touched upon, leaving us wanting more that we never actually get. Then these character are just disregarded for the rest of the film.
The aforementioned yakuza, Ozaki, is being driven and about to be killed (unknown to him) by his close brother- Minami. A long the way the boss dies of natural causes. The brother, Minami drives to the Twin Peaks-esque town but the body disappears. What follows is a dragged out yarn of Minami doing some detective work and meeting the useless and quirky characters. A notable scene is the cow-headed yakuza (Seen on poster) dream and although i was expected this character to be in a more primary role, it was still a sick, and slick scene. Later a woman appears, claiming to be Ozaki, i'll be honest and admit i didn't really understand what was going on here. She convinces Minami with intimate knowledge only he'd know, though no-one else believes it, including the head yakuza and she/he goes back to his place, wink wink, again no idea why.
Now we're moving towards the end, it gets really ****ed. The boss can only 'pitch his tent' with a strategically placed ladle (just see the film). Minami, naturally strives to prevent his brother having intercourse with the mob boss, and this culminates in a sticky and electricrifying death scene. Ahh, it's all resolved. Ozaki isnt really Ozaki and Minami can express and release his sexually feeling towards her (Minami has problems you see, one of which is he's a virgin). After banging her something appears to have gone wrong... yeah, did you forget it was a Miike film?
I'll leave you in suspense as to what happens but i've made all my flatmates watch it, and their reaction was quality. Hopefully you'll see the film and get the disturbing shock I had. The film is good, despite being slightly over ambitious and dragging in places. It does seem like an exercise in Miike experiment with character and creating a more mainstream film, until the end that is. Overall, if you like Twin Peaks, it's an interesting Asian take and anyone who likes to be shocked should too, enjoy it.
7/10
Gozu is initially an accessible and interesting Miike film. It begins with mild humour and the introduction of a 'crazy' Yakuza boss- Ozaki, in one scene throwing a small "yakuza attack dog" against a restaurant window (lol). The humour initially presented is slightly lost towards the end, at least i hope it is.
The film is very similar to Twin Peaks, the small town full of quirky inhabitants, but where the TV series format allowed us to recognize and emphasise with this variety of characters over the time of the series, a 120 minute film simply isn't long enough to develop such a diverse set of characters. This was the initial flaw i found in the film, characters would be built up and appear in a scene, and they are presented well and undoubtedly they have a rich and colourful personality but this is briefly touched upon, leaving us wanting more that we never actually get. Then these character are just disregarded for the rest of the film.
The aforementioned yakuza, Ozaki, is being driven and about to be killed (unknown to him) by his close brother- Minami. A long the way the boss dies of natural causes. The brother, Minami drives to the Twin Peaks-esque town but the body disappears. What follows is a dragged out yarn of Minami doing some detective work and meeting the useless and quirky characters. A notable scene is the cow-headed yakuza (Seen on poster) dream and although i was expected this character to be in a more primary role, it was still a sick, and slick scene. Later a woman appears, claiming to be Ozaki, i'll be honest and admit i didn't really understand what was going on here. She convinces Minami with intimate knowledge only he'd know, though no-one else believes it, including the head yakuza and she/he goes back to his place, wink wink, again no idea why.
Now we're moving towards the end, it gets really ****ed. The boss can only 'pitch his tent' with a strategically placed ladle (just see the film). Minami, naturally strives to prevent his brother having intercourse with the mob boss, and this culminates in a sticky and electricrifying death scene. Ahh, it's all resolved. Ozaki isnt really Ozaki and Minami can express and release his sexually feeling towards her (Minami has problems you see, one of which is he's a virgin). After banging her something appears to have gone wrong... yeah, did you forget it was a Miike film?
I'll leave you in suspense as to what happens but i've made all my flatmates watch it, and their reaction was quality. Hopefully you'll see the film and get the disturbing shock I had. The film is good, despite being slightly over ambitious and dragging in places. It does seem like an exercise in Miike experiment with character and creating a more mainstream film, until the end that is. Overall, if you like Twin Peaks, it's an interesting Asian take and anyone who likes to be shocked should too, enjoy it.
7/10