The ethereally beautiful Ryuhei Matsuda plays Jun Ariyoshill, sent to an impossibly photogenic juvenile detention centre after he kills and subsequently horrifically mutilates a guy after a one-night stand. Although the movie contains some startlin...(read more) g imagery (Juns heart pierced by a ray of sunlight, the wardens office within a picture frame, the seductively geometric communal cells) I found it difficult to stay with this extraordinary piece of cinema. Part of my mind was screaming emperors new clothes! whilst my visual cortex was being lovingly massaged. You can forget about conventional plotting character development and expository dialogue for, as one review I read said ….its a miike film…what do you expect? Well, if you expect to be…. Frustrated. Confused. Misdirected. but also Awed. Startled. Exhilarated & Exhausted….This will be right up your street. And if you cant tell whether I liked it or not….thats probably because I cant either, but Im sure as hell going to find it hard to lose some of the weird, seductive images that this movies left in my brain.
Takashi Miike considers, "Big Bang Love: A Juvenile Love Story of 4.6 Billion Years", his masterpiece, and while certainly his most intellectually and aeshetically challenging work to date, it falls a tad short, of it's epic aspirations.
For a "lo...(read more)ve story" there's very little sex, love, affection, or romantic notions of any sort, there's an unstated attraction between the two characters, repressed homosexuality (one of the characters is apparently sexually assaulted by another man at the gay bar where he works, his subsequent revenge the reason for his imprisonment, but it's never shown on screen.) Had the box not mentioned "homo-eroticism" the sexuality of the characters would be impossible to tell for a good deal of the movie.
That being said, this is really more of a murder mystery, whose end is kinda predictable early on.
However Miike has grown somewhat as a director, largely the film takes place on empty stage like sets with only one or two objects in place, like a piece of absurdist theater. There's even an opening interpretive dance sequence, which though beautiful ranks up there with Miikes greatest WTF moments. Though some scenes resemble "Dogville" in their sparseness, there's also subtle use of special effects here, a small animated image of a man trying to escape and being burnt to a crisp, a computer generated impossibly colored sky, and the reoccurring images of the space ship and the ancient temple (the paths within and without). All of the bargain basement effects which Miike has utilized in the past, are integrated well here, from out of nowhere fight scenes, to awkward muted comedic moments of intimacy. So while the story alternates between aggression and tenderness somewhat awkwardly, the visual aesthetics of the movie, fill the screen and the eye with both space and discreet details (otherwise this probably be a two star affair, ratings wise.) If you like Takashi Miike movies, at their most experimental (Gozu, Izo, etc), this is essential viewing, or if you happen to be interested in abstract, philosophical, prison love, sci-fi, murder mysteries....and who isn't?
This movie is an epic work of art. It's a big step into new territory for miike and one of his best films. The love and compassion radiates between shiro and jun, without much words or development needed. The story is so complex in such a short movie and unfolds beautifully. The movie is full of brute intense violence mixed with incredible beauty and elegance. The prison it's self is breathtaking the sets are simply eye candy enough. This is a movie that blew me away and is definitely not for everyone considering the brute violence and homosexuality aspects, but for those who appreciate experimental film it's a must see. Miike continues to impress me and this movie is a new level for him.
An unknown future. A boy confesses to the murder of another in an all-boy juvenile detention facility. More an exercise in style than storytelling, the story follows two detectives trying to uncover the case. Homosexual tension and explosive violence drives the story which delivers some weird and fascinating visuals. This was the first film I watched that was directed by Takashi Miike and I got to say it was a masterpiece. The physical fights were very raw, dynamic and beautiful. story is only a vessel in which to make the characters be of the background and personality. This is brilliantly done in the film.
A series of disjointed and chaotic flashbacks tells a story of intimacy in jail. 2 inmates convicted of murder arrive the same day and through a number of interviews with other cellmates, the story slowly reveals the truth behind a mysterious death involving one of the convicted.
Miike directs one of his most arthouse films to date which may put off fans of his previous work such as Audition, Ichi The Killer or even his far-left films to include Gozu and Izo. If you have the type of disposition where you need things presented in ABC order you're going to be extremely frustrated. Still worth watching.
You know when you have a really awesome dream that makes total sense while your having it, then you wake up and the more you think about it the less sense it makes. This is kinda like that but with more gay people and brutal beatings. Lots of interesting stylistic devices that I've never seen used anywhere else.
Basically a love story/drama/thriller set in prison but shown in different way. Surreal and dreamlike. I agree withsome if this had been told in a tradional way it would probably wouldn't have interested me as much. It didn't hurt that it had Ryuhei Matsuda in it also. XD
An incredibly visual, hard-hitting yet touching gay love story set in prison and a surreal daydream. Well worth a look for fans of Miike's more visual pieces (Gozu, Izo).
Watch what Miike can do with no budget and tons of creativity. I certainly don't think I would've enjoyed this story as much if told by any other director. And another great Matsuda performance.
Well, Takashi Miike sure doesn't try to win any more fans, does he? Anyway, I can't really review this well because I'm not clever enough for Miike. I can be fairly sure that it does discuss religion and science, although existentialism was the last thing on my mind when I watched his DOA or that mad movie Gozu. Only half rewarding for me but 10 marks for surrealism is a given.
MCT:July 4, 2008
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MCT:March 24, 2008
