Takashi Miike

[josh pelican]

To put this simply, if you don't like his movies I fucking hate you.

Miike is easily one of my all-time favorite directors. He graduted from the Yokohama Vocational School of Broadcast and Film although he claims he rarely attended classes. He was guided by Shohei Imamura.

His first movie to really get public attention was Shinuku Triad Society from 1995. This movie showcased his extreme style and recurring themes. Four years later, he gained international fame with his movie Audition, which most of you should know (I hope). It contained romance, horror, torture, and all around general fuckedness. This movie started playing at international film festivals along with his the first movie from his epic Yakuza series, Dead Or Alive.

Direct quote from Wikipedia:

Miike has garnered international notoriety for depicting shocking scenes of extreme violence and sexual perversions. Many of his films contain graphic and lurid bloodshed, often portrayed in an over-the-top, cartoonish manner. Much of his work depicts the activities of criminals (especially Yakuza) or concern themselves with non-Japanese living in Japan. He is known for his black sense of humor and for pushing the boundaries of censorship as far as they will go.

Despite his notorious reputation, Miike has also proven himself to be capable of directing lighthearted children's films (Zebraman, The Great Yokai War), touching period pieces (Sabu), and subdued, moving pictures such as the road movie The Bird People in China. Even in his more violent work, he is given to moments of surprising sentimentality, as in Dead or Alive 2: Birds. His dabbling in every sort of genre and emotional range is a testament to his versatility as a director, though a lot of his output is genre-defying. For example, The Happiness of the Katakuries is an unconventional farcical musical-comedy-horror involving bizarre claymation sequences, zombies, and b-movie pastiches.

And another:

One of his most controversial films was the ultra-violent Ichi the Killer (2001), adapted from a manga of the same name and starring Tadanobu Asano as a sadomasochistic Yakuza enforcer. The extreme violence was initially exploited to promote the film: during its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festivalin 2001, the audience received "barf bags" emblazoned with the film's logo as a promotional gimmick (one typically flamboyant gory killing involves a character slicing a man in half from head to groin, and severing another's face, which then slides down a nearby wall).

One more:

American avant-garde guitarist Buckethead released a song called "Imprint (Dedicated to Takashi Miike)" on his album Pepper's Ghost in 2007.

Geoff (groph), you will be happy to know that in 2004, he claimed his favorite movie was Starship Troopers.

He had a cameo in Hostel. He was the mysterious Japanese dude with sunglasses. It's a rare thing to see him without sunglasses on.

I'm sure you've all heard of him, or at least seen a movie he's directed. A few notable titles would be Ichi the Killer, Gozu, Zebraman, Audition, Visitor Q, the Box segement from Three... Extremes, Izo, Ultraman Max, Dead or Alive series, Imprint, and so on. I could name a hell of a lot more, or list them all, but just look him up on Wikipedia or IMDB for an extensive list.

I have been working on collecting all of his movies since I first Ichi the Killer. This guy makes directs some fucking amazing movies.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Ichi the Killer is essential viewing.

Hell, I even liked The Great Yokai War.

 

[hide]

He's definitely one of my favorites. Gozu is such a great movie

 

[Static]

all i can say is that imprint made me cringe.....during the girl torture part

ichi the killer was quite good

miikes ideas scare me lol but hes awesome

 

[josh pelican]

The Great Yokai War was so fucking bizarre compared to most of his work... and that's saying something.

I wish I could say what my favorite Miike movie is thus far, but I just can't. They're all so fucking good.

Also, in somewhat related news, Eihi (the main girl in Audition) plays the main girl (Ruka) in Tokyo Gore Police.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

The Great Yokai War was so fucking bizarre compared to most of his work... and that's saying something.

It was bizzare mostly due to it being extremely intensive with references to Japanese folklore and mythology. Still, whether you would know or not doesn't make the film a fun viewing.

I still have to see Tokyo Gore Police. I've got it but no time to watch it.

 

[jaretthale78]

how do you pronounce to i's after eachother?
im checkin this guy out right now...btw

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

how do you pronounce to i's after eachother?
im checkin this guy out right now...btw

mee-eekeh

 

[signalgrey]

how has no one mentioned Audtion?
that...is fucked up

 

[josh pelican]

how has no one mentioned Audtion?
that...is fucked up

See first post.

I mentioned it a few times but didn't go into detail on it. If I start on Miike, I'll go on forever.