"Gozu"
Minami (Hideki Sone) is a loyal member of the Yakuza
Azamarawi crew and near idolizes his older clan
brother, Ozaki (Sho Aikawa). But, Ozaki's sanity is in
doubt and the crew boss (Renji Ishibashi) secretly
orders Minami to take him to the Yakuza disposal site
in Nagoya. This straightforward mission for the young
gangster takes unexpected twists when Ozaki
accidentally dies on the way to his death in "Gozu."
When we meet Ozaki, the man's dementia is so apparent
– he warns his boss of a "Yakuza attack dog" in the
guise of a cute little Chihuahua before smashing the
defenseless little beastie to the ground – Minami is
ordered to dispose of the veteran thug. Ozaki,
thinking that the younger man is just his driver and
servant, unwittingly goes along with the plan. When
one of his lunatic outbursts nearly ends with the
shooting of an innocent woman, Minami knocks his
mentor out. As they proceed to Nagoya they have an
accident and Ozaki is killed. Then, Minami loses the
body and he frantically tries to find the elusive
corpse.
"Gozu" is a complicated and oftentimes jaw-clenching
film that channels itself to Takeshi Miike fans and
those with a penchant for gross out, cerebral horror.
It helps to be tolerant of excess as the auteur does a
pretty fair job at creating a Japanese David Lynch
movie, borrowing liberally from the American maestro's
works, "U-Turn" and "Lost Highway." He goes the Lynch
one better with his inclusion of the title character.
Gozu is a legendary creature from Japanese myth with
the head of a cow and the body of a man, the
gatekeeper to Hell. The minotaur-like creature, with
all of its disgusting secretions, appears before
Minami in a dream sequence. But, is it a dream?
I found "Gozu" a difficult study after the first 30 to
40 minutes. At this point, Ozaki is out of the
picture, apparently dead and missing. The departure of
the character reps a letdown as the action shifts from
Ozaki's insanity – some of the darkest, funniest bits
in the film – to Minami's plight. This is where the
film enters a surreal world involving the
aforementioned Gozu, a woman milking her breasts, the
oddball owners of an of-the-beaten-path inn that oozes
a milky fluid from the ceiling, incest, reincarnation
and rebirth.
I haven't had a lot of exposure to Takeshi Miike's
copious film catalog but have seen "Audition" and
"Ichi the Killer," at least. Both are extreme in their
violence, which takes on an air of the surreal. "Gozu"
reps a leap in the surrealism factor and, if possible,
is more out there than the latter films. There is
black humor leavened into "Gozu" but it is its
jaw-clenching scenes, usually involving shaded
homoeroticism, which gave me the most difficulty in
watching. I'm not the squeamish type but "Gozu" had me
clenching my jaws for many minutes at a time. It may
not be considered the most enjoyable film-going
experience for the masses but it sure shows that Miike
knows how to push buttons.
Fans of Yakuza horror movies finally get their day. I
give "Gozu" a B-.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
robin@reelingreviews.com
laura@reelingreviews.com
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