Gozu
Dir: Takashi Miike
2003
***
No one does Horror/Fantasy like Takashi Miike. Often overlooked as just a sick director, there is always meaning to his work. Gozu (Bulls Head) is a surreal journey of strange characters and bizarre situations but it's actually a very clever retelling of classic Greek mythology; Orpheus and his trip into Hell, The Minotaur, Crossing the River Styx to name but a few are represented as are some Buddhist, Biblical and other mythological references. This is all covered in a journey taken by two Yakuza, the Boss and the Henchmen. When the Henchman is ordered to take his beloved Boss to the country to be assassinated things take a turn for the worst once they pass the river (Styx). There are comments on sociological issues and attitudes and Miike really does push the boundaries, purely by showing a different angle to things we consider normal. It is extreme film making, passionate and uncompromising. Supposedly Miike ordered script writer Sakichi Sato to write the film within a week without giving second thought to anything he wrote. It's this bolshie attitude to film making that makes Miike's films so revered and disliked in equal measure. I think the idea is brilliant, the last 15 minutes of the film are a disgusting, shocking but brilliant conclusion. I would have just liked Miike to have spent a little more time on the overall film, the idea is amazing, the execution isn't. At times the direction looks amateur, I don't think this is intentional either, I think the film could have had much more of a visual impact than it did leaving it somewhat of a missed opportunity in my opinion.