Takashi Miike

Idiosyncratic Japanese auteur Takashi Miike offers another meditation on a violent culture in this teen-themed thriller. Genji Takaya (Shun Oguri) is a teenage troublemaker whose father, Hideo (Goro Kishitani), is a high-ranking member of the yakuza. Genji is a new student at Suzuran Boys' High, a educational facility for juvenile delinquents nicknamed "The School for Crows," and he's determined to make a name for himself as someone who doesn't back down from a challenge in order to impress both his father and his new classmates. Not long after arriving on campus, Genji comes to blows with Ken Katagiri (Kyosuke Yabe), who thinks at first that the new kid is someone else. Genji beats Ken into submission and wins his grudging respect, but when word gets out about the fight, Genji finds every tough guy in the school is waiting for his turn to show Genji who's boss, with the leader of the school underground empire, Tamao Serizawa (Takayuki Yamada), waiting at the end of the line. Kurozu Zero (aka Crows: Episode 0) was the third feature released in 2007 by the prolific Takashi Miike. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Maverick Japanese director Takashi Miike re-teams with longtime writing partner Masa Nakamura (Andromedia, The Bird People of China) for this Western inspired by Sergio Corbucci's violent 1966 classic Django. It's been hundreds of years since the Battle of Dannoura, yet the Genji and Heiki clans are still feuding. In this poor mountain town, there is rumored to be a great hidden treasure. Genji gang leader Yoshitsune is sure that his white-clad warriors will find the treasure first, but Kiyomori and his red-clothed Heike gang aren't about to walk away empty-handed. When a mysterious lone gunman with an incredibly fast trigger finger rolls into town, everyone wonders which gang he will join. As betrayal, deception, and cold-blooded murder become commonplace, the silence of this once-quiet mountain town will be broken by the piercing echo of gunfire and the air will become dense with the smell of death. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Two men imprisoned for seperate murders find their fates mortally intertwined in cult director Takashi Miike's homoerotic meditation on the societal flaws of modern-day Japan. Jun (Ryuhei Matsuda) is an effiminate gay bar employee who, after being sexually assaulted by a customer, brutally murdered his attacker in a fit of rage. Shiro (Masanobu Ando) is a brutish, heavily-tattooed thug whose combative nature has resulted in too many run-ins with the law to count. When both men are imprisoned for murder, Shiro's undeniable charisma and intensity draws Jun like a moth to the flame. As the two men learn from behind bars to open up and accept one and other for who they really are, a warm bond begins to grow that finds each man confiding his innermost secrets with the other and Shiro taking an almost paternal interest in his fragile young friend. When a confrontation erupts in the common area of the prison and one inmate strangles another to death, the guards are shocked to find Jun sitting on Shiro's lifeless body. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

After suffering years of abuse by his sadistic classmates, a vengeful Japanese boy develops a murderous alter ego in order to better deal with his traumatic past in director Yasuo Inoue's shockingly violent feature debut. As a high school student, shy Juzo was forced to endure the humiliation heaped upon him by the abusive Akai. Years later, when Juzo is hired to work at the same company where Akai is employed, he moves into the apartment directly above his former tormentor. As Juzo's revenge-minded alter ego slowly begins to eclipse his quieter, more withdrawn public persona, the people who have wronged him in the past begin to fall one-by-one to a mysterious psychopath. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A nebbish father and schoolteacher finds the courage to face both his personal issues and a horde of invading aliens after assuming the guise of an unpopular television superhero in maverick Japanese director Takashi Miike's warmhearted comedy. Nice guy Shinichi (Sho Aikawa) just can't seem to find the respect he so readily deserves: he's cuckold at home, his son is constantly harassed by bullies, and is teenage daughter is always willing to sell her body to the highest bidder. In order to escape from his depressive reality, Shinichi frequently slips into his private room and dons his patchwork Zebraman costume. As a child Shinichi loved Zebraman, and despite the fact that six episodes of the series ever aired the nobility of the character has stuck with the Shinichi well into adulthood. One night, while Shinichi is prowling the streets in his Zebraman costume, he comes across the frightful Crabman - a perverted villain with crab head and a dangerous pair of scissors. Already in character, Shinichi acts on his Zebraman instincts and effectively employs the Zebraman back kick. Later, Shinichi strikes up a friendship with handicapped transfer student and fellow Zebraman fan Asano, and begins to develop feelings for the boy's pretty and kindhearted mother. Suspecting that an alien takeover may be at hand when a horde of squishy extraterrestrial invaders begin possessing the locals and claiming the lives of young girls, the fledgling superhero leaps into action. While at first Shinchi bumbles in his attempts to keep the town safe from these strange beings, it doesn't take long for him to develop the confidence that will allow him to truly take on the persona of his childhood hero and fully realize his Zebraman powers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Three Asian directors, from Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, join forces to create an omnibus horror film, Three...Extremes. In Fruit Chan's "Dumplings," shot by Christopher Doyle, Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung), a thirtysomething former actress with a philandering husband (Tony Leung) goes to visit Aunt Mei (Bai Ling), who sells the most expensive dumplings in Hong Kong. Mrs. Li knows about their rejuvenating powers, and she also knows about their unpleasant main ingredient, but after some initial nausea, she digs right in. In Oldboy writer/director Park Chan-wook's "Cut," a successful filmmaker (Lee Byung-hun of Joint Security Area) arrives home to find that a disgruntled extra (Lim Won-hee) has taken over his home, and fastened his pianist wife (Kang Hye-jun of Oldboy) to the grand piano. The madman threatens to cut off the wife's fingers, one by one, unless the director strangles the helpless child he's tied to the couch. Takashi Miike directs the last segment, "Box," about a young author and former circus performer, Kyoko (Kyoko Hasegawa) seemingly haunted by the ghost of her twin sister, who died a mysterious and horrible death while practicing their act. Adding to Kyoko's trauma, her editor (Atsuro Watabe) is a dead ringer for her old stepfather/ringmaster, who may have perished in the same "accident" that took her sister's life. Three...Extremes was shown at Subway Cinema's New York Asian Film Festival in 2005. For the American release of Three... Extremes, the order in which the films are presented was altered from the original "Box," "Dumplings," and "Cut" to "Dumplings," "Cut," and "Box." This film was actually preceded by another omnibus film, Three, that was nevertheless retitled Three... Extremes II for the English-language market and issued after this one. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike directed this characteristically offbeat and hard-hitting crime drama. Seiji and Yoshifumi are a pair of yakuza (Japanese gangsters) who have sworn their loyalty to mob boss Muto. When Muto fails to pay his proscribed share of the fund for an upcoming gang battle, Muto tells the other leaders of the Date family that he will fight to make up his debt. Seiji, however, becomes concerned for Muto's safety, so he has his boss arrested and offers to fight in his place. This, however, leads to speculation about Muto's role in his recent misfortune. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

DragonBall Z meets Blade Runner meets a William S. Burroughs head trip in this hallucinogenic sci-fi flick directed by Takashi Miike. It is set in the year 2346 in the city-state of Yokohama, which has become thoroughly sinocized in the intervening 300 years. People speak a mishmash of Japanese, Chinese, and English and the streets are bathed in digital noise. The place is run with an iron fist by an exuberantly gay potentate named Woo (Richard Cheung) who, hoping to fashion a newer, crueler society, drugs the populace with a cocktail akin to Prozac-laced birth control pills. Pregnant women and children are sent to prison. Woo's lead henchman is named Honda (Riki Takeuchi), a sneering uber-cop with a Wayne Newton-style head of hair. The underground resistance is led by the English-speaking Fon (Terence Yin), his fierce girlfriend Jyun (Josie Ho), and a yellow-haired humanoid robot named Ryo (Sho Aikawa). Raids, kung-fu fistfights, and general weirdness ensue until the cataclysmic showdown between Ryo and Honda. This film is the third and final in Miike's reported Dead or Alive trilogy. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Take a trip back to the Tokugawa era for this tale of friendship and loyalty from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike. When Eiji is wrongly imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit, his bad luck takes a turn for the worse when he is sent to an Ishikawa workhouse to perform hard labor. As Eiji attempts to survive the physical and mental torments of his incarceration, his lifelong friend Sabu struggles in the outside to seek out the man who truly perpetrated the crime before the bleak realities of prison life drive Eiji to a point beyond recovery. Adapted from writer Shugoro Yamamoto's classic novel, this unforgettable tale of courage is sure to remain with viewers and offer a new perspective on director Miike's wildly varied filmography. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Acclaimed director Takashi Miike explores a different kind of family dynamic with this adaptation of Hisao Maki's popular manga following the story of two rival yazuka clans engaged in a bloody battle for underworld supremacy. Notorious hit man Lightning Takeshi has been recruited to take out a powerful mobster, though his contract is compromised when an unidentified woman identifies him before the job is completed. Now forced into hiding along with his family, Takeshi must avoid the wrath of the vengeful rival clan while attempting to come to terms with his growing feelings for the frightened female witness. As the bullets begin to fly, inverterate grudges begin simmering to a boil, and longtime loyalties are put to the ultimate test. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The ever-prolific Takashi Miike directs this wild and woolly prison drama, reportedly based on real-life cases of Japanese imprisoned abroad. Set in the Philippines, the film revolves around elite salaryman Kohei Hayasaka (played by former pop star Koji Kikkawa who also did the music for the film), who is sent to the clink after being falsely accused of trafficking a kilo of heroin. Sporting an expensive suit and designer luggage, he recoils at the teaming squalor of his new accommodations. Fortunately, for a fee, he and his fellow Japanese compatriots live in somewhat better digs, including a refrigerator, some straw mats, and an absolute nightmare of a toilet. His fellow Japanese inmates include a pedophilic doctor, a crazed restaurateur, a loon-ball junkie, and an aging gangster (Tsutomu Yamazaki) who lives in a palatial cell with a transvestite. Also there in the neighboring female prison is a mysterious, but shapely, Japanese woman (Nene Otsuka) who is secretly hiding a gem in her privates. When he learns that his company is not willing to front the money to spring him from jail, he learns to adapt to his new environment, where rules mean little but money means a lot. The gangster soon hires Kohei -- offering him a handsome salary and the use of his pristine toilet -- to help him run drugs on the outside, with the warden's blessing. Just as the gangster's past is starting to catch up to him, he, Kohei, and all the other Japanese inmates manage to break out during a prison riot. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide