Koroshiya 1 (2001)
Also known as "Ichi the Killer, Koroshiya Ichi"
Ai wa, kanari itai. (Love really hurts.)
Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Shinya Tsukamoto, Alien Sun, Susumi Terajima, Shun Sugata, Sabu, Toru Tezuka, Yoshiki Arizono, Kee, Satoshi Niiizuma, Suzuki Matsuo, Jun Kunimura, Moro Morooka, Hoku Kinoshita, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Mai Goto
Director: Takashi Miike
Running Time: 122 minutes
US MPAA rating: N/AUK BBFC rating: 18
Action, Comedy, Crime, Horror
On DVD Based on a popular Japanese comicbook by Hideo Yamamoto, Takashi Miike's controversial 'Ichi the Killer' translates perfectly all the manga's energy, anarchy and illogic into the kinetic language of film.
When yakuza boss Anjo goes missing with 300 million yen, his loyal lieutenant Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano) - a grinning fetishist who blows cigarette smoke out of the scars in his cheeks - will stop at nothing to find him, not least because Anjo has been the only one capable of satisfying Kakihara's penchant for masochism. Kakihara's brutal inquiry into the circumstances of Anjo's disapppearance puts him on the bloody scent of Ichi (Nao Omori), a shy, mixed-up cry-baby who is being manipulated by the mysterious mesmerist Jiji (played, appropriately, by film director Shinya Tsukamoto) into slicing and dicing his way through Anjo's gang in the belief that he is taking vengeance on bullies who tormented him as a child. As the corpses pile up, Kakihara and Ichi circle ever closer to one another, little realising that their insatiable drives are destined to be tragically frustrated.
Even by Miike's standards of excess, 'Ichi the Killer' is not for the faint-hearted, with its frequent scenes of torture, dismemberment, rape and body horror. Yet tempting as it is to dismiss the film as little more than a stylish compendium of ultraviolent sensationalism made with Miike's characteristic verve (and there is nothing wrong with that), this would be to ignore the film's high level of sophistication and the incredible intellectual demands which it makes on viewers. For a start, one must work overtime just to follow the story, with its huge cast of carefully realised characters, its elliptical editing, complicated flashbacks, parallel scenes and its frequent shifts into sequences of dream or fantasy (it can even be argued that the entire film is one man's doomed revenge fantasy) - and the enigmatic final images force viewers to reassess drastically everything that has preceded.
A subtle intelligence is also brought to bear on the scenes of violence, as Miike unsettles his viewers by not just showing abject brutality, but brutality that is being watched by a third party - in particular by the sadistic voyeur Ichi, whose arousal at the sight of any aggression offers an uncomfortable reflection of Miike's own audience. The film dramatises how easily violent acts are learned, imitated, and misdirected, engendering endless cycles of vengeance where real satisfaction becomes impossible and disappointment inevitable. Ultimately 'Ichi the Killer' lays bare the contradictions in Japanese society's rigid hierarchies of power, where it is necessary for the bullied and the humiliated to humiliate and bully others in order to become number one, and once you have reached the top, the only way is down.
'Ichi the Killer' is a bizarre sado-masochistic love story, an unnerving excursion into criminal and sexual extremes, and a comicbook explosion of lurid colours and freakish characters - but most of all, it is a furious, frenetic and at times very funny piece of bravura filmmaking, with outstanding performances, spectacular setpieces, dizzying moodswings, a killer soundtrack, and a mindbending conclusion.
Guaranteed to amaze, shock, disgust and intrigue in equal measure, 'Ichi the Killer' is one of the most striking films ever made. Unforgettable.
DVD Extras: It is ironic that there should be an entire bonus DVD of extras when the film itself has been required by the BBFC to undergo cuts of just over three minutes.
Disc 1 has options for subtitles or a dubbed version. Near the beginning of the thoroughly banal audio commentary, associate producer Eliot Tong states 'I'm in no position to comment on this movie, it should be Miike', which unfortunately proves to be all too true, although Tong has more of interest to say than his fellow commentators, the critic Bey Logan and the actress Alien Sun (who declares 'er' and 'yuk' a lot). Tong reveals that all the sperm seen in the film came from Shinya Tsukamoto.
Disc 2 has a gallery of lengthy, neatly packaged interviews with director Takashi Miike (more forthcoming here than he usually is), and actors Tadanobu Asano ('I found some [scenes] a bit hard to stomach'), Alien Sun ('I'm actually not a big fan of S&M') and Shinya Tsukamoto (on playing a character who was 'a mystery to me') - strangely no interview with Nao Omori (Ichi); a promotional archive, including trailers, electronic press kit, raw interview footage of Miike, behind-the-scenes footage and outtakes; Premier Asia promotional showcase; photo galleries (inc. Alien Sun glamour gallery); seven well-presented behind-the-scenes studies; eight pages of filmnotes and bios of Alien Sun, Miike, Tsukamoto and Asano (but not Nao Omori).
It's Got: A yakuza (played by Japanese indie heartthrob Tadanobu Asano) with an unnaturally big mouth and a very cool dress sense, a weeping anti-hero, corrupt twin policemen (one of whom dons fake dog-ears before sniffing out his suspects), a pimp split clean in half, tongue cutting, nipple slicing, entire rooms spattered in gore, and the only title sequence ever to emerge in 3D from a pool of the main character's sperm.
It Needs: To be released uncut in the UK. For shame, BBFC!
Alternatives: The Story of Ricky, Kill Bill: Volume 1, 'All About Lily Chou-Chou', 'Crying Freedman', 'Jacob's Ladder', 'Fight Club', Identity
Summary: An absolute masterpiece of extreme filmmaking. Guaranteed to amaze, shock, disgust and intrigue in equal measure, 'Ichi the Killer' is one of the most striking films ever made. Unforgettable.
Review Date: 14th January 2004
External Links
Official Web Site
Koroshiya 1 at the IMDB
Comments18 Comments |
| Just plan disturbing. I bought this movie because i'm a sick bastard that wanted to own the most violent movie. I own it. I saw it. I hated it. The director just wants to disgust you and does a good job at it. Other than that it is just terrible. |
| Comment by:- Mark. J | | 04 September 2004 | ip: logged |
| I thought this film was intriguing and weirdly 'magical'. I also think you would be slightly disturbed if you DID NOT find it somewhat disturbing, like much of the best art. Shame about the beatings = sex scenes tho'... |
| Comment by:- Warren Meacher | | 10 September 2004 | ip: logged |
| crazy disturbing |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 25 September 2004 | ip: logged |
| whatever, these three jackasses that posted these pathetic reviews know nothing of cinematic achievement when they see it.....Ichi the killer was one of the best films of the past decade!!!!! |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 26 September 2004 | ip: logged |
| I haven't seen this yet, but I've seen a preview for it and was totally intrigued and grossed out, and when it comes to gore, I have a stomach of steal, just the commercial made me queasy. I have to see it. |
| Comment by:- Deaniver | | 10 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| lol u all give pritty crap reviews :P i REALY wanna see it, where did you get it? |
| Comment by:- Hoppa | | 18 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| it was disturbing and strange but it was different and that kept me interested |
| Comment by:- drunkenmonk | | 22 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| Ichi is a gory masterpiece. I watched it for the first time last week and have watched it a few more times since. Also Tadanobu Asano's acting(as Kakihara) is brilliant. Shocking... amazing! |
| Comment by:- laura | | 30 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| I bought this film instead of 'Spirited Away' which i had seen and though was beautiful, because a mate informed me that it was 'f*cking digsgusting! Watch it and laugh!'. So I did and quite frankly I thought this was an amazing film. It's so funny and violent, and the soundtrack does kick ass. I felt the acting was top notch and the direction brilliant as well. The only thing that ****ed me off was the last minute. Only after listening to the commentary and watching the anime did i feel like id grasped what was going on. Still though a must buy. Watch this film and laff. |
| Comment by:- Rob, Wolverhampton | | 30 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| oh my god...it's terrible! |
| Comment by:- alexxx | | 01 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| Wow, seems like there are a wide variety of opinions here, however, i assure you, violence isnt the only thing the film has going for it, its pretty artsy too if you ask me. |
| Comment by:- onirust | | 02 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| Miike is a GENIUS, to all of you who think it is just gory you are obviously mentally retarded and need to get back to your romantic comedies and crappy teen-horror flicks from the steaming turd that is Hollywood, this film will make you sick, make you laugh and make you feel a whole lot of other emotions that other films dont even touch on, this film does something that no other film in the last decade has done, it has defined its own genre by not only setting its own rules but repeatly breaking them again and again. The actors do a masterful job of conveying a bunch of oddballs and Tadanobu Asano is just bloody fantastic, Miike obviously takes most of the superlatives though, with his kinetic editing, the way in which he mixes dreams, flashbacks and real life will leave you wanting to go back and watch this film over and over again and of course the complete disregard he shows for any kind of normality ever seen in any other film genre puts him standing tall and proud on the tallest pedestal mankind could find ****ting all over the american film industry and laughing all the while. In short, watch this film and change the way you look at the medium of film forever. |
| Comment by:- me | | 13 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| WHAT? ichi was an awesome movie, but i twasnt that violent, you should go get ricky oh |
| Comment by:- Mr.Onikage | www.comicdisturbance.tk... | 30 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| excellent movie ,uncut version is brilliant,violent , graphic, sexual ,id like to see hollywood try to remake this into its usual homogenised drivel! fat ****ing chance.lol |
| Comment by:- stephen b | | 07 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| I just watched Ichi last night and I loved it. Aside from the scene where they put Jiji's head on someone else's muscle body was week. I really wish they went into how Ichi got trained to kill with his leg and where he came up with the boot knife and costume. Aside from that and the sequence when the cut on Kakihara's head disappears I was completely satisfied with the film. |
| Comment by:- Dennis | vagrantaesthetic.com | 12 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| Woman may find it controversial, some men might not be able to stomach it but if you have the slight feeling you can then you must watch this film. It is like no other out there. the Narrative is perfectly done although the CGI wasnt that up to standard. 9/10 none the less |
| Comment by:- Raphael | | 15 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| Giving this one a 10/10? C'mon, you can't be serious. The "most deliberately bloodiest film"-label won't make anything a cinema masterwork just like that. |
| Comment by:- Tatu | | 31 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| Looks pretty fun. |
| Comment by:- ExcessivePrayer | | 24 May 2005 | ip: logged |
