Ichi the Killer—Bloody, Gory, Artsy, Cartoony Fun in a Movie

Last night, I convinced a friend to watch the oh-so-violent and wonderfully comical movie, Ichi The Killer, with me. What can I say? I didn't know if I had the stomach to watch blood and guts and brains and the slow slicing of an attached tongue all by myself. OK, so that said, the movie was really awesome.

Based on a manga created by Hideo Yamamoto, the main character is a sadistic, totally calm and crazy yakuza named Kakihara. He is a ruthless and creative torturer (cooking shrimp tempura, and then pouring the oil over a man who hangs from the ceiling by long hooks wedged into the backside of his body) with a fucked up face—he has huge gashes on both sides of his mouth so he can literally smile from ear to ear. There's only one thing that truly intimidates—and excites—him, and that is the prospect of coming face-to-face with Ichi the Killer. That's because Ichi single-handedly killed a roomful of yakuza, slicing each one's body parts with speedy precision, leaving the room full of intestines and blood. It's shot beautifully—looked at with a different mindset, it actually looks like modern art.

The thing I loved the most was that Ichi the Killer was NOT the prototypical heartless scary-looking serial killer. He's a disturbed, brainwashed, emo kid-type who cries as he slices people into pieces with his bladed shoe. I remember muttering to myself as I watched him split a pimp in half: "This movie is really good."

Comments

[sodesne]

"Visitor Q"

[sodesne]

"Visitor Q"

[Carina]

I loved loved loved Ichi the Killer, it's one of my favorite movies.
Visitor Q, on the other hand wasn't that great.

[Some Random Guy]

I like this movie. I also liked Visitor Q (A bit more). Come to think of it, most of my favorite movies have this guy in it. Ichi, Last life in the Universe, and Zatoichi. All time favorite, though, is Oldboy.

[masami]

I also liked Visitor Q, but my favorite Takashi Miike movie is Katakuri-kei no Kofuku -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304262/ -- Takeda Shinji, claymation, and music. Funny and kawaii in a dark way.