Quick question, re the movie "Ichi the Killer"...

[CanuckAmok]

WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[ghostsofgiants]

1. I didn't make it very far into the film.

The room that was soaked in blood was too much for me to handle.

[CanuckAmok]

2. It was just so fucking bizarre...

I mean, yes, it was probably the most violent movie I've ever seen, but I was expecting that.

What I didn't expect was the plot, which made absolutely NO SENSE whatsoever. Perhaps it's one of those movies that are filled with cultural references a Westerner can't possibly begin to comprehend... but still :wtf: ?!

[ghostsofgiants]

3. Ahh. I love Miike's films though, so I want to see it...

I just can't handle gore, haha.

I recommend his film Gozu. Weird as fuck (in a surrealist kind of way), I love it.

[Radical Activist]

4. As in Zatoichi?

Was it part of that series? I just watched Zatoichi the Outlaw last night and loved it. I've never seen Zatoichi the Killer.

[CanuckAmok]

5. "Ichi", pronounced like Itchy (& Scratchy), who would have been perfect.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0296042/

[Radical Activist]

6. Ok.

Its not part of the series at all then. Sometimes they call him "Ichi" in the Zatoichi series so I thought you might have been using the short hand version.

[sakabatou]

7. I think Zatoichi means one perpous...

So :shrug:

[jukes]

10. zatoichi

is 1 of my fave movie-treats. have you seen the recent remake? FUCKING AWESOME!

[LouisianaLiberal]

8. That is one of the darkest damned films

ever made. Worse than "I spit on your grave."

Made the mistake of watching it late one night, and whoever wrote it is one sick piece of crap.

[CanuckAmok]

11. But more the the point...

WHAT THE FUCK?!

I mean, HUH?

What was with the first prostitute being murdered by Ichi?

What was with the comical Yakuza boss wobbling around and doing pratfalls?

What was with the final scene, where Tama-whashisname is falls to his death but is later seen in a jail cell?

What the BLOODY FUCK was that final shot about--the one with the schoolchildren and the guy hanging in the park--?!


Pardon the turn of phrase, but after watching Ichi the Killer..... I'm stumped.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

9. (bear in mind that I haven't seen this for quite some time

and I'm still yet to see it uncut -- it's missing the scene where a prostitute is raped and has her nipples cut off)

The bloke with the holes in his cheeks is a sadomasochist whose boss is murdered by a rival gang. Cheek-hole man tries to avenge his boss, torturing the wrong bloke along the way (so he cuts his tongue off to make amends). I can't remember why, but the bloke who controls Ichi (he implanted a memory in Ichi of his having seen a girl getting gang-raped when he was a schoolboy and this turning him on; the shame of his inaction is enough to get Ichi going into a mega-rage (and leaves him forever conflating sexual desire with ultra-violence, although this makes him really upset)) crosses cheek-hole man somehow. The latter gets off on the idea of the uber-sadist Ichi so seeks a showdown.

Then I get completely lost and can't really remember what happens. However I interpreted the rooftop showdown as cheek-hole man being pissed off that Ichi is really such a girl and not a true sadomasochist that he has to do it himself with the needles, imagining a really violent and painful death at Ichi's hands.

As to the hanging scene & cheek-hole man in a jail cell, fuck knows. Nor why Ichi's controller turned into a muscle-man. Nor many other things that I've got vague memories of.

One day I'll get round to importing an uncut version and I think it needs a second viewing because of the high confusion factor. I don't know if the above was any help!

[Susang]

12. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Confused? That's Takashi Miike for you. How'd you like the tongue scene?

You're not really supposed to understand it, it was based on Hideo Yamamoto's manga. ;-) But here's a decent synopsis of the film's plotline: http://mandiapple.com/snowblood/ichithekiller.htm

[CanuckAmok]

13. That explains....

NOTHING

[Susang]

14. And everything

:P

[Guy Fawkes]

15. Its pretty uncomplicated, actually..

but the gore gets in the way.

A gang leader runs off with 300m yen and Kakihara (the crazy slit-cheeked masochist) takes over the gang. Their violent methods of searching for the boss worry the other Yakuza. At the same time, a retired cop uses Ichi- who he's brainwashed- to go after Ichi and the other Yakuza. Ichi's deal is that he has a fake memory of a gang-rape, and the shame of enjoying the memory drives him into a crazy violent rage. Anything sexual will set him off and make him go bezerk.

[CanuckAmok]

16. And the hanging man in the park?

And Kakihara falling to his death and THEN shown locked-up in jail?

I understand the basic plot, but, as I posed earlier, WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK?!

[Guy Fawkes]

18. violence for the sake of violence.

Ichi is still better then Battle Royal, in terms of violence-for-violence-sake.

[TimeChaser]

17. It might make more sense if you read the manga

:shrug:

[CanuckAmok]

19. Ah, yes, nothing clears up ambiguity quite like Manga

;) :hi: