Gozu
by Takashi Miike
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Hideki Sone, Keiko Tomita, Kimika Yoshino, Sho Aikawa, Shohei HinoDirector: Takashi Miike
Brand: PATHFINDER HOME ENTERTAINMENT
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Color, Director's Cut, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 129 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-23
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Pathfinder Home Ent.
Movie Reviews of Gozu
Movie Review: Why buy the Cow, when you can get the Milk for Free?
Summary: 5 Stars
Pity poor Tokyo Yakuza torpedo Minami, who is having a really rough week. Let's see:
1) He's a hip, stone-cold, icy loyal, leather-clad Yakuza henchman in his prime with a flawless coif who packs the muscle for his Yakuza mentor and overlord Ozaki, a guy you seriously don't want to mess with, who also happens to be a real underworld mover-and-shaker and super-duper high in the Councils of the Yakuza Big Boss;
2) But lately, Ozaki (the great Sho Aikawa) has been a little bit off his game. Strike that: he's way on edge. Scratch that analysis: he's a total fruitbat. Calm enough to drop bombs on the outside, a festering adder's nest of shrieking, diseased neurons on the inside, all screaming to get free, fly forth, unleash unholy havoc! I gotta be me!, Master Sensei---I just gotta be me!
3) Oh, and Ozaki is all paranoid, too. He's big into Paranoia. He sees conspirators and assassins everywhere: that little dog, outside the restaurant, for one. It's a Yakuza attack dog, he confides to the understandably contemptuous Big Boss. It's quick, deadly, a wicked little beast, trained to slaughter Yakuza.
4) And he doesn't take that sneaky Yakuza ninja-dog stuff lying down, either, even if everybody else thinks he's batsh*t: so he beats it out to the front of the dive, administers a little bloody tough love to the unhappy pooch, and steers it head first into the diner window.
5) Now: violence in the service of the Family is one thing. Crazy bloodlust is quite another. So the problem: Ozaki's days are numbered. And Minami, his erstwhile trusty, loyal henchman, is ordered to drive him out to---well, a little 'meeting', where saner Yakuza brothers will present Ozaki with his early retirement package.
And so Minami---with deep apprehension---chauffeurs Ozaki out in his vintage Mustang charger on the Big Bad's final mission. Well, with one little glitch: the Very Strange Little Village where Minami has to make a pit stop.
And that's where the fun really begins.
Now: has there ever been such a gloriously straightforward Takashi Miike film as "Gozu"? Now bear with me for a second, because yeah, it's true: "Gozu" is filled with baffling, practically esoteric, gorgeously grotesque and fleshy and seminal diversions, in which a young Yakuza thug could find himself easily lost, warped, perverted, maybe even destroyed. Or at least made really, really late for his gig.
And make no mistake: "Gozu" stuffs the tatami-rooms and teahouses with Miike's parade of the bizarre, from Cow-Headed demons to lactating temple votaries, from undead transvestite waiters to well capitalized skin-suit manufacturers. It's lush. It's lavish. It's somewhat astonishing: "Gozu" may very well be Miike's most sensual and most philosophical film, bordering on sheer tactile perfection. It's that good.
But that said, the best way to go into a Miike film is to drink down a mug or two of piping hot sake, and plunk yourself down in front of the infernal thing. You've gotta lose yourself in it: no expectations, no spoilers. You'll get none of that here, you devil dog, you.
But what you will get is my pet theory, and see if you don't agree with me, once the credits roll and the sake's blast-furnace impact has worn off a bit: "Gozu" is a pretty honest, straightforward revenge flick. Ozaki tells Minami that the Boss is out chasing women, wasting time, ruining the gang. He tells him, early on, that things have gotta change, and that people might get hurt.
Did he lie?
JSG
Summary of Gozu
From the acclaimed director Takashi Miike comes a Yakuza/ horror film to shock and amaze audiences everywhere! When Minami is sent to kill his mentor Ozaki who is in the midst of a nervous breakdown he embarks on a journey of unexplained natural phenomenon that only the director of such films as Audition Dead or Alive and Ichi the Killer can provide in this surreal Lynchian/Cronenberg-like odyssey!Special features16x9 anamorphic video transfer letterboxed Audio Commentary with film critics Andy Klein & Wade Major** Interview with Takashi Miike featuring directors Guillermo Del Toro ("Hellboy") and Eli Roth ("CabinFever")** Making of featurette** Still Gallery Biographies FilmNotes by author Tom Mes - **Unrated version onlySystem Requirements: Running Time 129 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 825307911497 Manufacturer No: PH-91149Similar DVD Movies
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