GOZU (2003)
Directed by Takashi Miike
Starring: Hideki Sone, Sho Aikawa, Renji Ishibashi
Genre: Yakuza/Horror/Romance
Running Time: 128mins

Rating:

Minami (Sone) is given the responsibility to carry out the assassination of his boss Ozaki (Aikawa) following a particularly psychotic episode that results in a chihuahua being spread across a restaurant window. With his job pertaining driving Ozaki to a disposal site in Nagoya, Minami spends the majority of his short road trip deliberating whether or not he can go ahead with his task and kill his mentor and senior.

However, while deciding upon his fate all it takes is the sudden slamming of the brakes to send Ozaki unintentionally into the dashboard killing him instantly. Job complete, Minami enters Nagoya (a town seemingly populated by many a strange creature (from the trio of transvestites who run a bar to the shell suit wearing aged yakuza who converse constantly about the weather) Minami is plunged further into confusion. However, this is not the end of his troubles as a phone call break results in his return to an empty car. Ozaki is gone. Was he kidnapped? Did he come back to life and just walk away? In Nagoya, surrounded by the colourful characters Minami will find the answers.

Gozu is a fascinating trip which is bizarre, perverse, entertaining, downright hilarious in parts, with some stunning cinematography and in all honesty a very interesting exploration of the intense bonding of brotherhood between the Yakuza that goes beyond loyalty and into self-sacrificial love.

Oh i do love Gozu!.

Gozu is a completely different film in comparison to Miike's earlier work, while some may call upon the definitive identity the film has as a Miike production in all honesty he has never really made a film like this before. The violence on display is very much toned down with no real shock factor. In Gozu Miike parodies his earlier work (thus the scenes of lactation) and the violence that is present is more restrained and bizarre as opposed to offensive.

It's Miike doing Lynch and Cronenberg and I have to say it is a damned entertaining ride. Gozu is simply not supposed to be taken seriously, any film that opens with the paranoid ramblings of a Yakuza claiming chihuahuas are trained to kill simply has to be taken with a pinch of salt. And yet, despite the often ridiculous locations, characters and plot turns there is still a fascinating subtext to be found that lifts Gozu from the realms of entertainment into a genuinely interesting film.

However tenuous this may seem, Gozu is actually quite an interesting take on homo-eroticism in the yakuza. Without giving too much away, (the film really is best experienced blind) Miike examines themes of masculinity, and the difference of physical and emotional attraction with the bonding of men whose only cause for separation lies within their physical embodiement. This in turn, leads to one of the biggest "what the fuck" endings I have seen for a long time. When dissected however, it only further enhances the sexual politics of the story bringing more weight to the question of sexual orientation.

This subtext however, takes backseat to just pure unadulterated dirty humour and entertainment as Miike pulls out all the shots to dazzle, perplex and excite the audience into a frenzy of surrealist humour, inventive plot twists and plenty of in-jokes to satisfy his ever growing fanbase. In a particularly ingenius reference of self-parody see Renji Ishibashi's turn as a Yakuza boss with a penchant for ladels. Ishibashi was previously seen in Miike's Dead or Alive using a ladel for an altogether disgusting purpose, here however, his obsession provides a sequence that is a sickeningly hilarious guilty pleasure.

While it is all very entertaining there are problems with the film, however, a lot of the flaws derive from the problem of preconceptions. With its artwork and promotional trailer I was led to believe that Gozu would deliver a garish horror film, however, there is very little horror on display despite the occasional moments of suspense as Miike relies heavily upon the strains of the cello score rather than a true deep rooted sense of fear.

TAKASHI MIIKE'S HORROR YAKUZA THEATRE screamed the artwork, but what we truly get is a film that dives into a surrealist landscape which is much more bizarre than terrifying. However, with tongue firmly in cheek Miike does succeed in living up to its kitsch B-movie feel.

With Miike churning out films at an alarming rate what continuously surprises me about him is the high quality of each production. Yes, there are rough edges - this can be expected. However, the richness of his films in terms of detail and originality is seemingly without boundaries. It has almost reached a point where you start to question where and when will his ideas run out? It is certainly not in the hotel landlords who offer "everything" to their guests food, personal services, spiritual medium??? Nor the liquor store owners American wife who literally reads her dialogue from cue cards on the walls. If this time does come, and it invariably will at some point, it's certainly not with Gozu.

Ok so in time these little eccentricities may become recycled and overused, we may even come to find Miike's incessant use of dick and fart jokes cliched but in Gozu atleast, there is still enough here to warrant it as one of his most purely enjoyable films.

Great stuff.