Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu (2003)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writer:

Sakichi Satô (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 July 2004 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Minami, a member of the Azamawari crew, highly respects his Aniki (brother) Ozaki who has saved his life in the past...

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Violence | Milk | Yakuza | Bra

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Yûta Sone	...	Minami (as Hideki Sone)
Shô Aikawa	...	Ozaki
Kimika Yoshino	...	Female Ozaki
Shôhei Hino	...	Nose
Keiko Tomita	...	Innkeeper
Harumi Sone	...	Innkeeper's Brother
Renji Ishibashi	...	Boss
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ken'ichi Endô
Kanpei Hazama
Masaya Katô
Tamio Kawaji		(as Tamio Kawachi)
Susumu Kimura
Hiroyuki Nagato
Hitoshi Ozawa
Kazuyoshi Ozawa
Sakichi Satô	...	Coffee Shop Manager
Tokitoshi Shiota	...	Gozu
Tetsurô Tanba
Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi

Also Known As:

Gozu (International: English title) (USA)
Yakuza Horror Theater: Gozu (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for aberrant sexual and violent content, and for language.

Runtime:

France:130 min (Cannes Film Festival) | USA:129 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

UK:18 | Australia:R | Australia:R (2008) | New Zealand:R18 | France:-16 | Japan:R-15 | Hong Kong:III | USA:Unrated | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Company:

Klock Worx Co.

Quotes:

Ozaki: Your wiener looks like Frankenstein's.

Movie Connections:

References Bijitâ Q (2001) (V)

an insane ride

Miike is probably one of only a dozen directors to make 6-8 movies a year. Yet he is the only one to keep not only a consistent quality at this rate, but also to keep surprising his fans. "Gozu" is a case in point.

A yakuza meeting turns ugly when Ozaki, in a paranoid moment, paints a window red with a chihuahua. The boss puts Ozaki's understudy Minami in charge of taking care of him and sends both of them away.

The tongue in cheek yakuza plot provides only the starting point. From there on, it's a cast of characters that would put to shame any freak show and/or dada event. Just as "Ichi the Killer" is a movie about gangster violence taken to its extreme (yakuza are ultimately masochist), so is this one about gangster loyalty taken to its latent homosexual conclusion. However, one could just as easily read it as a study of a character, lost in the effort of coping with the absurd situations that stand in for the jumble of his own emotions and motivations. Minami spends a lot of time riding around Nagoya in his Mustang convertible. As I watched him, I felt in a somewhat similar situation: sometimes riding along Miike, sometimes being taken for a ride, but ultimately just following the trip for the sheer fun of turning, stopping, accelerating, passing, reversing, having a flat tire...

Miike proves not only that he's one of the most innovative and productive directors of all time, but also that unlike critics everywhere, he can take himself not seriously - watch out for quotes and references to some of his earlier classics (Visitor Q, Dead or Alive.) And don't worry, the ending is sure to surprise you, even if you are a seasoned fan. If this is your first Miike movie, watch any other one mentioned in this review first, then come back to this one.