genre CLoseT
Takashi Miike
The Individualist Powerhouse of Asian Cinema
Trademark genre-smasher, Takashi Miike is immensely prolific, but even by his standards he has excelled himself.
Last year he had three feature films hit the festival circuit in as many months.
By Daniel Martin
M
iike is currently
Like a Dragon
filming his 77th film,
if you count his TV
movies, and has a sequel
to one of his other films in pre-
production. He started as
assistant director to Shohei
Imamura on the black comedy
Zegen in 1987 and moved to
directing in 1991 with the TV
movie Last Run. Initially a
purely mercenary director, he
soon developed a love for the
craft and has since honed his
own personal style and set
about choosing (and in a few
instances, writing) projects that
contain the themes he is
interested in.
Despite the gradual turn to a
personal output, Miike’s films
cannot really be bunched
together; often violent and with willingness to confound the with pictures such as Ichi the prison and is trawling the
recurring themes such as loner audience that make a film Killer (2001), Dead or Alive fictional Tokyo district of
status versus group living, instantly Miike. He manages to (1999) and Fudoh: The Next Kamurocho (a thinly disguised
there are things to connect his make a film beautiful whether Generation (1996). representation of Shinjuku) with
canon but it is his flair and his it has the tiny budget of So what persuaded Miike to a small girl, Haruka, in search of
Visitor Q (7 million Yen) or join the questionable ranks of her mother. Meanwhile, Goro
that of Sukiyaki Western VG adaptors such as Uwe Boll Majima (Kiryu’s old Yakuza
Django (over 400 and Paul W. S. Anderson? It boss, a baseball-bat wielding
million Yen) and it is seems Sega Corporation and psychopath) is searching for
because he has grown Enterbrain had already wooed him, thinking he is responsible
to love his process. him: he directed two 20-minute for the theft of 10 million Yen
Like a Dragon online promos for the game’s from the Tojo gang. All this over
(2007) is Miike’s foray sequel, but his willingness to a backdrop of social unrest and
into the world take on the film is surely down rampant crime: a bungled bank
of videogame to his balking at nothing. robbery, a Bonnie and Clyde-
adaptations. The Having directed Buffy-style TV style subplot and a Korean hit
VG version was shows (Tennen shôjo Man Next, man wandering the streets.
praised in Japan 1999) and pop star vehicles Like a Dragon does
for exploring such as Andromedia (1998), stumble into the pitfall most
Yakuza life with he has shown that there is no common to VG adaptations: it
accuracy and Miike genre that scares him. is a little confusing to anyone
was a logical choice as Miike has followed the who has not played the game.
director, having made the game’s storyline but picked the However, Miike directs with
Yakuza genre his own elements that most interest such panache that, once you are
him, producing a rather along for the ride, you don’t
confusing split narrative. Kiryu mind. Not only that, he also
has just been released from manages to make the inclusion
70 By FILmmAkers. For FILmmAkers.
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