Kakihara – Kooky…
I hadn’t watched Ichi the Killer for a few years, but when it was released I was momentarily seduced by the hyper-kinetic violence and confrontational subject matter. Now a few years older and a little more jaded, I see that isn’t much of a film, but still streets ahead of made-to-shock fare that has ripped it off since, Enter the Void and it’s ilk (Seriously watch the first 10 minutes of both), and surprisingly far more coherent than most J-Schlock that has risen to prominence in recent years.
Japanese gangs are capable of great violence and brutality, as we see in the film torture is apparently common-place and creative. This alone is bad enough, but when a straight up psycho named Ichi starts out-crazying the crazies even the hardest of bad guys sit up and take notice. Guys like Kakihara, a mob lieutenant obsessed with dealing pain in a variety of ways, including slicing his own cheeks Joker-style and holding them together with cheek rings. Kakihara is looking for the Boss of his gang, a man who may be kidnapped or indeed already dead. Ichi becomes a suspect after a few incidents in which he purees his victims.
But Ichi is in reality a bland everyman, a meek and slightly pathetic figure with expressionless eyes who we learn might not even be responsible for most of his own thought processes. This is why the far more interesting and charismatic Kakihara gets the DVD cover and the shiny suits. Ichi is reluctantly ultra-violent, with a frenzied slashing and mutilation usually the result of him being pushed over the edge. Kakihara on the other hand gets off on inflicting pain, and upon seeing Ichi’s handywork he admires him from afar, openly envious of the effortless way in which Ichi carries out his bloodshed.
While both have severe ‘issues’ to say the least, at least Kakihara is transparent.
“I’m gonna need a band aid here. Got any long ones?”
As the whirlwind of continuous violence, torture and gore escalates towards the inevitable confrontation between Kakihara and Ichi, the film suffers by both being overlong and setting a baseline expectation of continual over the top violence that it could never possibly maintain. By continuing to try to top the previous scenes the never-ending arterial sprays and severed limbs rapidly became the norm, and pausing for dialogue or ‘standard’ violence somehow boring.
To compensate director Takeshi Miike ups the ante with more and more violence, often against women. In equal opportunity gore like Tokyo Gore Police or Robogeisha this is fine, here though in a film grounded in (a depressing but possible) reality, which relishes in such degradation. Sure the film tries to justify these events and acts, but this aspect reeks of ‘look at me’ sensationalism.
Ultimately Ichi the Killer will be a lot of things to a lot of people, some will decry its violence, others praise its bravery and creativity. I find myself on the fence, Kakihara is a well drawn character and some of the violent scenes are undeniably creative (and let’s face it, silly), but I could well have done without the woman bashing and sexual violence.
Ichi isn’t as openly pandering to the backpacking set and hoping to be derided as some sort of badge of honour like Enter the Void, but that doesn’t make it much more than a strange curio with some equally troubling subject matter.
Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. Ichi will be forever cited as an example of cult cinema – and its admirers as pointless losers – but look past the violence and all that is left is Kakihara and a whole lot of twiddling thumbs.
Happy New Year folks.
OGR
