I have to say I really enjoyed this film. But for the record, the guy on the front is not Ichi.
One day, boss Anjo of the Anjo gang goes missing with 100 million yen, and his chief henchman, Kakihara, is determined to solve this mystery. The one thing we do know is that the violence behind the massacre is caused by Ichi, a painfully shy and sexually repressed yet psychotic mad man, who is constantly on the verge of mentally snapping He is the trademark card of Jijii, played by Shinya Tsukamoto, who is an ex-cop and a genius. He is, for ambiguous reasons (money?) determined to turn all of the gangsters in Japan against one another, until the streets run red with blood. It's a little bit like Japanese Pulp Fiction (but Pulp Fiction would make a mockery of this film any day!!!!!) in the sense of more than one tale: the foreground tells the story of Kakihara, the guy who is obsessed with solving this horrific obscenity, then the background of the film tells the story of Ichi, the guy behind it. Because Ichi is observing and cowering away from anything that is connected to his crimes and this specific event, and seeing other people and how they are reacting to it, it's like watching Batman through The Joker's eyes!!
The character of Ichi is extremely interesting with lots of character development, along with Kaneko and Jijii, but Ichi is by far the best character in this film. It's extremely hard to tell what is going to happen next, and all questionable elements in this film are ambiguous, which is awesome, because it is endlessly productive.
Kakihara, played by the great Tadanobu Asano, is a very strange man, because he gets pleasure from receiving physical pain, which is the reason he is so interested in finding his boss Anjo, because it is his boss Anjo who fed him pain the way he liked it!!! Also, what is Kaneko's relationship with Ichi? And his son......?
I know it all sounds bizarre, but it's just a film, and it's extremely interesting. I would like to warn women that there are some very graphic and intense scenes which women will be very offended by, but just keep paying attention and you'll notice that the film is not glorifying the negative things towards women (like when a guy spreads her legs and smells in between in an attempt to get an idea of who raped her!!! I know, they went too far on that one!!), and everyone who shows any abuse towards women gets what is coming to them, so it balances it out and makes it a positive message.
Please, however, do not watch it dubbed, because that ruins any film, especially this, you miss a lot if you have it dubbed!! Subtitles please!
Maybe you'll think I'm weird for saying this but I actually laughed a bit when watching it, because of the extreme sense of black humour (like smiling and getting an erection from watching bodies and guts fall apart onto the floor!!!!).
Just don't take it too seriously, because it's a film, the makers of it are only trying to turn your head off for a couple of hours. Also, be warned, there are some pretty intense scenes for anyone, so if you have a weak stomach, probably best not to bother.
Other than that, great acting, great plot, and an ending that will leave you gasping for air! This is difficult to explain because I'm not allowed to spoil it, nor do i want to, but when Kakihara does what he does to himself with the Stilettos on the rooftop at the end, and then what he is looking at next just pause it for a second and have a think, don't think that what you see is definitely happening. To be more specific, considering what he does with them, maybe he damaged his brain.....? That's one last thing, pay close attention to the scene where Ichi and Kaneko are eating noodles, it will throw you off guard a bit. Just make sure you are watching the uncut version.
One day, boss Anjo of the Anjo gang goes missing with 100 million yen, and his chief henchman, Kakihara, is determined to solve this mystery. The one thing we do know is that the violence behind the massacre is caused by Ichi, a painfully shy and sexually repressed yet psychotic mad man, who is constantly on the verge of mentally snapping He is the trademark card of Jijii, played by Shinya Tsukamoto, who is an ex-cop and a genius. He is, for ambiguous reasons (money?) determined to turn all of the gangsters in Japan against one another, until the streets run red with blood. It's a little bit like Japanese Pulp Fiction (but Pulp Fiction would make a mockery of this film any day!!!!!) in the sense of more than one tale: the foreground tells the story of Kakihara, the guy who is obsessed with solving this horrific obscenity, then the background of the film tells the story of Ichi, the guy behind it. Because Ichi is observing and cowering away from anything that is connected to his crimes and this specific event, and seeing other people and how they are reacting to it, it's like watching Batman through The Joker's eyes!!
The character of Ichi is extremely interesting with lots of character development, along with Kaneko and Jijii, but Ichi is by far the best character in this film. It's extremely hard to tell what is going to happen next, and all questionable elements in this film are ambiguous, which is awesome, because it is endlessly productive.
Kakihara, played by the great Tadanobu Asano, is a very strange man, because he gets pleasure from receiving physical pain, which is the reason he is so interested in finding his boss Anjo, because it is his boss Anjo who fed him pain the way he liked it!!! Also, what is Kaneko's relationship with Ichi? And his son......?
I know it all sounds bizarre, but it's just a film, and it's extremely interesting. I would like to warn women that there are some very graphic and intense scenes which women will be very offended by, but just keep paying attention and you'll notice that the film is not glorifying the negative things towards women (like when a guy spreads her legs and smells in between in an attempt to get an idea of who raped her!!! I know, they went too far on that one!!), and everyone who shows any abuse towards women gets what is coming to them, so it balances it out and makes it a positive message.
Please, however, do not watch it dubbed, because that ruins any film, especially this, you miss a lot if you have it dubbed!! Subtitles please!
Maybe you'll think I'm weird for saying this but I actually laughed a bit when watching it, because of the extreme sense of black humour (like smiling and getting an erection from watching bodies and guts fall apart onto the floor!!!!).
Just don't take it too seriously, because it's a film, the makers of it are only trying to turn your head off for a couple of hours. Also, be warned, there are some pretty intense scenes for anyone, so if you have a weak stomach, probably best not to bother.
Other than that, great acting, great plot, and an ending that will leave you gasping for air! This is difficult to explain because I'm not allowed to spoil it, nor do i want to, but when Kakihara does what he does to himself with the Stilettos on the rooftop at the end, and then what he is looking at next just pause it for a second and have a think, don't think that what you see is definitely happening. To be more specific, considering what he does with them, maybe he damaged his brain.....? That's one last thing, pay close attention to the scene where Ichi and Kaneko are eating noodles, it will throw you off guard a bit. Just make sure you are watching the uncut version.