Koroshiya 1 (2001)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Hideo Yamamoto (comic)
Sakichi Satô (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 July 2002 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Ai wa, kanari itai. (Love really hurts.)

Plot:

When a Yakuza boss named Anjo disappears with 300 million yen, his chief henchman, a sadomasochistic man named Kakihara...

Plot Keywords:

Yakuza | Gang | Martial Arts | Blade | Tongue

Awards:

6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Tadanobu Asano	...	Kakihara
Nao Omori	...	Ichi
Shinya Tsukamoto	...	Jijii
Paulyn Sun	...	Karen (as Alien Sun)
Susumu Terajima	...	Suzuki (as Sabu)
Shun Sugata	...	Takayama
Toru Tezuka	...	Fujiwara
Yoshiki Arizono	...	Nakazawa
Kiyohiko Shibukawa	...	Ryu Long (as Kee)
Satoshi Niizuma	...	Inoue
Suzuki Matsuo	...	Jirô / Saburô
Jun Kunimura	...	Funaki
Hiroyuki Tanaka	...	Kaneko
Moro Morooka	...	Coffee Shop Manager
Houka Kinoshita	...	Sailor's Lover

Also Known As:

Ichi the Killer (International: English title)
Koroshiya ichi (Japan) (alternative spelling)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong perverse violence/gore and sexuality, language and drug content.

Runtime:

129 min | USA:117 min (heavily cut) | Germany:110 min (heavily cut) | UK:120 min

Country:

Japan | Hong Kong | South Korea

Language:

Japanese | Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Germany:18 (heavily cut) | Portugal:M/18 | Chile:18 | Sweden:15 | Brazil:18 | Germany:(Banned) (uncut) | Norway:(Banned) (re-rating) (2008) | Sweden:18 (DVD rating) | Australia:R | Canada:18+ (Québec) | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating) | France:-16 (DVD rating) | Hong Kong:III (cut) | Ireland:18 (heavily cut) | Italy:VM18 | Japan:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:R (cut) | USA:Unrated | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Omega Project

Trivia:

As a publicity gimmick, barf bags were handed out at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to those attending the midnight screening of this film.

Goofs:

Continuity: On the color movie cover, which shows a closeup of Kakihara's face, his scars are shown backwards. In the movie, the cross is over his right eye, but on the cover it is seen over his left. However, on the black and white cover the scars are shown correctly.

Quotes:

Ichi: Did... you really want me to rape you, Miss Tachibana?
Karen: Oh, no. I didn't want it from you. I wanted it from anyone. The only thing that can help me now is despair.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Grindhouse (2007)

Freakin' wow

OK I love everything horror from the bad 'b' movie to the high budget Blade type flicks...this was so much fun! It had gore that was used just enough to flip you out but not enough to GROSS you out. Loved the dual lead characters as well. BUT I would NOT watch it in dubbed American, be real and select the DVD and read the subtitles like a REAL movie fan, if not you miss a LOT. If you're in the mood for something that can take you for a ride and not leave you behind twisting your head saying "What did we just watch?", this is it.A lot of Japanese flicks leave too much dead time in between action/movement this one was timed just right.