After directing over 100 motion pictures, short videos, and television productions since his directorial debut in 1991, Takashi Miike has become well-known on an international scale for horror movies, samurai cinema, disturbing images, and everything in between. Known for his depictions of graphic violence, endless amounts of blood, and highly animated (almost cartoonish) characters, his films are commonly labeled as over the top, but have a darkness impossible to shake. Pushing endless boundaries in cinema, Miike credits directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Gosha, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, and Paul Verhoeven for inspiring his variety of work.
While Takashi Miike is seen as creative for his films, much of the media has deemed his movies as controversial. Critics alike have argued that Miike exploits human bodies in his productions through the use of violence and sexuality. While the boundaries that he pushes are shocking and explicit, his work has inspired notable directors like Quentin Tarantino, who cites Miike’s projects as true masterpieces. Stick around as we reflect on Miike’s most debated yet praised films.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 Blade of the Immortal
Arrow / Warner Bros.
Manji (Takuya Kimura) is a samurai, who is currently on the run, after going through with the order from his superior to kill a corrupt lord along with his followers in Blade of the Immortal. After an intense battle, Manji gets sacred bloodworms in his body in order to heal him and save his life, but has now become cursed with immortality as a result.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Five years later, the now gifted samurai provides help to a young woman by the name of Rin Asano (Hana Sugisaki) to avenge the death of her father. The pursuit of Kagehisa Anotsu (and the Ittō-ryū), a collective society of samurai assassins he leads, gets them into a horrific battle with a dangerous warrior, along with his collective swordsmen.
5 Graveyard of Honor
Daiei
The remake of Kinji Fukasaku’s 1975 film under the same name, Graveyard of Honor is based on the real-life events of a fellow Yakuza member. Yakuza members are a group that is heavily involved in organized crime, originating in Japan; the films are the Japanese equivalent of gangster and mafia movies. Their activities are said to include illegitimate business dealings, in addition to a combination of criminal and non-criminal activities. Rikuo (Gorô Kishitani), who was previously a dishwasher, becomes the right-hand man for a yakuza leader. Rikuo becomes increasingly fascinated and obsessed with the carnage he participates in.
4 13 Assassins
Toho
Takashi Miike’s remake of the original 1963 film 13 Assassins is based around a series of historical events where Shinzaemon Shimada (Kôji Yakusho), a dignified samurai leads a group of assassins in the midst of 19th-century Japan to eventually eliminate the merciless Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira, who is causing an endless barrage of havoc against his own people. Shimada, who is secretly hired by a government official that hopes to end Matsudaira’s terror, strategically places a trap for the lord’s large contingent of faithful bodyguards.
3 First Love
Toei
The film First Love revolves around up-and-coming boxer Leo (Masataka Kubota), who unintentionally becomes immersed into a drug-smuggling scheme with a call-girl by the name of Yuri (Sakurako Konishi). Leo works at a local Chinese restaurant located in Kabukichō, Tokyo, but soon finds out that he has a fatal brain tumor and has a limited amount of time to live. He gets caught up with Yuri, a drug addicted call-girl, after the two cross paths on the street. Noticing that Yuri is in distress and being chased, he decides to physically intervene and assist her. As Leo believes that he has nothing else in life to lose, he runs throughout the city with the Yuri, also helping her to overcome most of the past trauma she still possesses.
2 Audition
Art Port
Based on the 1997 novel by Ryu Murakami, the 1999 Japanese horror film follows a widower, Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), as he decides to begin dating again. Assisted by his friend who is also a film producer, (Miyuki Matsuda), Aoyama uses various auditions for a fake production, ostensibly functioning as a dating service. Once Aoyama becomes interested in Asami (Eihi Shiina), a timid yet visually appealing woman, Asami and Aoyama begin a relationship. Asami then begins to notice that Asami isn’t as reserved as she once depicted herself to be, leading to sinister revolations around her backstory. The final 30 minutes of Audition contain some of the greatest final scenes in horror.
1 Ichi the Killer
Media Blasters
Ichi the Killer is very violent and shocking to watch, even more so than most of Miike’s work. Pushing boundaries in almost every aspect, the visuals utilize excessive violence and onscreen killings as somewhat of a mechanism for aesthetics, perhaps predating the great elevated horror films of recent years. Depicting some of the most unforgettable torture scenes in Japanese cinema, the way in which Miike captures these moments are framed in confining and uncomfortable ways, sometimes turning the camera upside down or filming in tilted long shots to convey the point of view of the victims. It’s a masterpiece of violence, not for the faint of heart.
