08/31/06 Gozu

Gozu (2003), directed by Takashi Miike

watched solo; DVD (borrowed from Jason) @ home; suggested by Jason

So, I'm trying to cram all of the last titles listed on the Side Bet Challenge in today...the usual procrastinator that I am. This one always frightened me just by the description (infamous Japanese auteur Miike's use of extremem violence and perverse sexual taboos) and the bizarre image on the cover of the DVD (the crouched figure of a human in its underwear with an enormous bull head). Don't try to make it make sense...just sink yourself in to the film's freakishly abnormal psyche and leave reasons behind. I'll give Miike all the credit in the world, for not only being a bold director in content...but also harnessing great talent around him, leaving indelible imagery on the screen and being one of the most prolific producers of film of our time. That being said, there's something not quite right about the man...and it shows in his art. I guess all important art needs to be shocking, having society second-guess it's boundaries and sense of taste in the name of unfiltered expression. That's a beautiful thing. Miike's take here is yet another strange trip down violence lane, with the metaphorical manifestation of repressed sexual desires. Here, a young yakuza named Minami plays little brother protege to fellow yakuza Ozaki...whom he greatly admires for saving his life in the past. Ozaki begins to display acts of paranoia (i.e. slamming a chihuahua into a plate-glass window claiming it was a yakuza spy dog), which have the rest of his crew questioning his sanity, and his crime boss wanting his life for bringing such unwanted attention on them. The Chairman taps Minami to dispose of the body of his mentor, which he anguishes with terribly...and ultimately is baffled by the sudden disappearance of said corpse. With his search for a dead man ahead of him, Minami comes across many unusual people (let's just say a landlady who likes to squeeze milk from her breasts and bottle them to sell, a man who has half his face painted, and the aforementioned bull/man figure) and must fight through physical violence and haunted nightmares to find closure. The end result in searching for that closure with his friend, Minami is placed into a disturbingly surreal dream state...where a beautiful woman who claims to be the reincarnated body of his brother begins to spark a sexual attraction. The inner conflict Minami has with falling for a figure who is his heterosexual dream woman, is perplexed by the latent homosexuality that comes forth in his love for Ozaki. This odd love triangle comes to fruition with an utterly insane (and a bit stomach churning) scene where the male body literally climbs out of the female anatomy (think how birthing elephants must feel) to confront Minami. Yeah, you'd have to see it to believe it (and then spend the rest of your life trying to shake the image of having seen it). That's exactly what Miike is perfect at, leaving an indelible image emblazoned on your brain...with the aid of foreboding musical score, and a wicked nightmare-like filming style. I have to admit, while being generally disturbing in content, his films are something that I would like to study more of to appreciate his style.

3 out of 5 stars