The Late Show: Because Awesome Movies are Awesome.
In our first AGFA Final Friday title, Takashi Miike directs the first entry in his extreme crime trilogy, the story of a Japanese detective who forms an alliance with a gangster to earn money to pay for his ailing daughter's operation. R / 105 min. In Japanese with subtitles.
PLEASE BE FOREWARNED: This movie is completely insane, full of ultra-violence and extreme situations. Seriously, it's just nuts.
“...makes John Woo look like Eric Rohmer. Tokyo’s underworld is torn apart by a turf war between yakuza gangs and invading Chinese triads. Ambitious yakuza Ryuichi (Riki Takeuchi) isn't above playing both sides off against each other in his bid for power, while detective Jojima (Sho Aikawa), himself none too scrupulous, is out to destroy the gangs. Miike piles enough warped characters and bizarre, twisted happenings into this conventional framework to fuel half-a-dozen Tarantino movies, while cheerfully borrowing -- and inflating -- key moments from THE BIG HEAT and KISS ME DEADLY." - Phillip Kemp, Amazon.com
“A pivotal project in the development of Miike’s sensibility. For someone on his wild and amazingly dexterous wavelength, these films represent nirvana: a hit of pure aesthetic cocaine.” -- Slant