Takashi Miike is an interesting director. So the other day when I picked this film up, I figured I'd be in for a treat. Let me just say, I don't know if treat is the right word for it. If you like totally fucked up and crazy, then yes, treat is exactly what this movie is. If you're familiar with Takashi Miike, then you might know what you're getting yourself into. I'll admit, while I loved Audition and more specifically, Ichi The Killer, there's a lot of Miike's work that I'm rather unfamiliar with. I think Gozu is one of those films you're either going to "get it" or you're not. It's a film that reminded me greatly of something David Lynch would have directed, a type of hallucinogenic nightmare that only a certain kind of mind could conceive. This film is all about the experience, the mood, and that vague uneasy feeling the viewer has while exploring this sort of nightmare world that Miike has created for us.
The film follows a low level Yakuza named Minami who is ordered by his superior to kill a fellow Yakuza named Ozaki whom he happens to really admire. He decides to go through with it, seeing as Ozaki has started to go a little nuts with his killing of little dogs and imagining things and all. He drives him out to this small town where the "yakuza dump" is located. Before they get that far, Minami slams on the brakes and Ozaki hits his head, killing him in the car. Slightly jarred and unsure of what to do at this point, Minami stops at this diner to use the restroom and collect his thoughts. In what seems like an instant, Ozaki's body is missing from the car. Thus starts Minamis quest through this strange village to find Ozaki and to find out exactly what the hell is going on.
We soon find out that something is a bit off. Everyone in this town is rather strange, and we start to wonder whether Ozaki was crazy or if Minami is as well. The plot of the film stays linear but slightly muddled as we progress, with logic becoming blurred with scenes of cow headed demons and strange, lactating middle aged women and other oddities. The best way I can describe this film is like a nightmare. Imagine yourself in the midst of sleep, having a dream where horrors come to life in a way that could only possibly make sense to the dreamer. While dreaming, everything is clear. Then you wake up, and wonder what in the world you could possibly have smoked the other night in order to get those crazy thoughts into your head. Nothing makes sense, but yet I remained sucked in. This film is a special kind of fucked up that you're either going to hate or love. I'm assuming since you're on a blog like this, you'd probably lean towards the latter.
The film follows a low level Yakuza named Minami who is ordered by his superior to kill a fellow Yakuza named Ozaki whom he happens to really admire. He decides to go through with it, seeing as Ozaki has started to go a little nuts with his killing of little dogs and imagining things and all. He drives him out to this small town where the "yakuza dump" is located. Before they get that far, Minami slams on the brakes and Ozaki hits his head, killing him in the car. Slightly jarred and unsure of what to do at this point, Minami stops at this diner to use the restroom and collect his thoughts. In what seems like an instant, Ozaki's body is missing from the car. Thus starts Minamis quest through this strange village to find Ozaki and to find out exactly what the hell is going on.
We soon find out that something is a bit off. Everyone in this town is rather strange, and we start to wonder whether Ozaki was crazy or if Minami is as well. The plot of the film stays linear but slightly muddled as we progress, with logic becoming blurred with scenes of cow headed demons and strange, lactating middle aged women and other oddities. The best way I can describe this film is like a nightmare. Imagine yourself in the midst of sleep, having a dream where horrors come to life in a way that could only possibly make sense to the dreamer. While dreaming, everything is clear. Then you wake up, and wonder what in the world you could possibly have smoked the other night in order to get those crazy thoughts into your head. Nothing makes sense, but yet I remained sucked in. This film is a special kind of fucked up that you're either going to hate or love. I'm assuming since you're on a blog like this, you'd probably lean towards the latter.
Gozu is not without faults. While Miike succeeds in achieving all levels of fucked upness and even quite a bit of comedy, the movie drags a bit in the middle and doesn't start to pick up again until the end, culminating with the outrageous finale. Much in the vein of Lynch's Eraserhead, the whole being-weird-for-weirdness-sake works for a while, and then almost becomes a little tiresome to follow as Miike piles on more and more levels to the insanity. However, that's not to say I wouldn't recommend it. As I said, take the film as an experience. Dissociate yourself from the plot for a while and allow yourself to enter Miike's nightmare world. Probably not a movie I'd ever watch again, but worth the experience. I'll be sure to check out some more of Miike's work in the near future.
RATING:
** 1/2 out of ***