Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike:
Does he retain his auteur status after transcending the East/West divide?
Things to consider in Miike’s films
• Glossary• Films• Themes: “Family”, “The Outsider”
and “Order”• Depiction of violence in Ichi the Killer• Eastern cinema: Conventions of film
violence • Auteur status• Conclusion
Glossary
• Dove style violence – Popular in contemporary Japanese filmmaking, where people abuse each other with a detached cruelty
Yakuza – Japanese mafia
Tom Mes –Midnight Eye website editor and critic of Japanese cinema,with an interest in Takashi Miike
Munchausen’s by Proxy – The exaggeration or fabrication of illnesses by a primary caregiver
Films
• Focus film:• Ichi The Killer (2001)
• Other films:• Audition (1999)• Chakushin Ari (2003)
What is an auteur?• “A director is like an author; an
author writes with words, a director writes with film.”
• Characteristics of an auteur • Why I chose the films
Themes: Family
Audition
Chakushin Ari
Themes:The
Outsider
Ichi the Killer
Audition
Themes:Order
Ichi the Killer
Chakushin Ari
Depictions of violence
Depictions of violence towards men
• Violence is more graphic and depicted on screen
• Mes suggests that: “Violence against men in the falls into the comical category”
• Mes, violence and audience response
Film stills depicting violence towards men
Kakihara (r), torturing Suzuka to find out who killed his boss
“Just a little torture”
Ichi slicing in half a pimp
Depictions of violence towards women
• More realism in the violence• Is it misogynistic?• Mes, violence and the audience• Representations of victims• How violence is shown on screen
Film stills depicting violence towards women
Nipple slicing scene
Eastern cinema: Conventions of film violence
•Focus on the physical
•Audience reaction
•Emphasis on physical suffering
•“Dove style” violence
•Emphasis on consequences
•Japanese audience – voyeur audience
Auteur status •Awards•Work in S-T-V/V-Cinema•Hostel and “Masters Of Horror”•Film Festivals•Cult status•Agitator : Tom Mes and Miike
Conclusion(Can I answer my question?)
“I’m happy that my films were discovered by chance by foreign film festivals. That makes me realise more
that there is a world outside Japan too.
“For me, it’s an occasion to meet many people and experience directly the responses of international
audiences to my films.
“But for me, as a director, my attitude towards making films hasn’t changed with the fame
“I feel it’s not good to change as a person anyway”
(Takashi Miike)