Visitor Q
Just so genius in so many ways; hilarious, frightening, disturbing and yes, even heart warming.
Plus… lots of breast milk.
Happiness of the Katakuri’s for me, though I’ve enjoyed a lot of his films and hated many as well… such is the curse when you make so many damn films in such a short period of time.
As for the Dead or Alive series, I love where he took DoA 2 (you can see some clear stylistic homages to Kitano), but I still hold up the first as the best. With Part 2 he openly dealt with the supernatural aspect of things, whereas in Dead or Alive the ending comes completely out of left field and blows your mind with it’s sheer insanity (and then literally blows away everything in the film itself).
Speaking of the connection between Kitano and Miike, there was a brief period where Miike was actually going to direct Zatoichi, with Kitano still playing his dream role of the title character. In the end, I’m glad Kitano handled everything himself, but when that project was first announced with those two attached, the little geek inside of me nearly died of a pleasure overload.
gozu and ichi are my favorites
I’m going with Happiness of he Katakuris as well, closely followed by Bird People of China.
His episode of “Masters of Horror” is really, REALLY disturbing and I love that. Also love Big Bang Love, Juvenile A and he has a segment in Three… Extremes, which is one of my favorite films, but that’s mostly due to the other two segments from Fruit Chan and Chan-wook Park.
I thought Visitor Q was just ‘meh’.
I’ve only seen about ten of his films so far, so it’s not really fair, but I’ll say the best so far is “Visitor Q.”
Visitor Q.
I second lots of breast milk.
I love Ley Lines. Only Takashi Miike would cast Naoto Takenaka (the wig guy from Shall We Dansu?) as Mr. Big. And it has one of his most sublime endings.
Gozu
i haven’t seen many miike films, but i would say my favorite would have to be audition. i also liked imprint, his masters of horror episode.
Ichi the Killer was the first I saw, so it left an impression. Of the other 22 movies of his I’ve seen, they’ve all been a wild ride, but some of them have been rather exhausting as opposed to exhilerating (even his slower stuff—and yes, he has slower stuff. Check out Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, it’s a masterpiece).
I guess a more appropriate question would be, is there any Miike movie that is actually not very good, interesting, entertaining, wild, out there, amazing, spectacular, or fun at all?
So far, only Osaka Tough Guys. As far as I’ve seen, at least. Still working my way through the oeuvre, you know how it is.
—PolarisDiB
After watching Ichi the Killer again and basing it’s merit on fluid storytelling, imagination, and orginality, I’d have to say that it’s one of the best movies he’s ever made, if not the best because it encompasses everything he’d done up to that point, and with the style of the manga, it creates something somewhat mysterious, and dangerous, but in a popular way. You know? I don’t. It’s just fucking good. Huge ass props for the addition of The Boredoms doing a completely insane soundtrack.
Audition is classic.
Am I the only one besides Crap Monster who likes The Bird People in China? It’s easily my favorite Miike movie. I absolutely loathed Visitor Q.
I just haven’t seen The Bird People in China, yet, but believe me when I say that I’ll get around to it eventually, and I have absolute faith that it’s as good as you and Crap Monster state. In fact, now I can hardly wait to watch it!
But Visitor Q is genius. That scene where they’re chopping up the bodies and they smile at each other is so sweet and endearing! It makes me so happy and relieved to see a couple work through their issues and return to a deep affection for each other, even if it is over the dead bodies of their son’s bullies.
—PolarisDiB
This is a tough one because Miike is one of my all time favorite directors. I would have to pick Blues Harp, Shinjuku Triad Society and Visitor Q.
Runner-ups – Dead or Alive and Graveyard of Honor (remake)
He is our Fassbinder.
Gozu ir really interesting, I need to watch it again and make up my mind about it. But Visitor Q and Ichi the Killer are my favorites. I didn’t enjoy Audition as much the second time around as I did the first time. The Happiness of the Katakuris is fun to watch, I can’t believe a musical like that exist. And the Bird People of China has a good third act but I didn’t work for me. Death or Alive? is that the one with the yakuzas with super powers at the end?
So for now its.
Visitor Q/ Ichi the Killer
1.Visitor Q (Some things, are truly strange.)
2. The Bird People in China (The DOOR!)
3. Audition (Kiri Kiri Kiri)
4. Gozu (Everything I’m about to tell you is joke. Don’t take it seriously.)
5. City of Lost Souls (Must be Latin blood. Hot tempered. Ah!)
6. Zebraman (Black & White Ecstasy)
7. Graveyard of Honor (Who did this?)
8. Yakuza Demon (You’re way too cool, man)
9. Ichi the Killer (I killed his dog.)
10. Fudoh – No quote, but there’s a girl who shoots darts out of her vagina in this film.
Fudoh is batshit crazy. Ridiculously violent and absurdly humorous, just how I would describe what Miike is about. Guilty pleasure.
For me: Audition also had the strongest impact for me. But Ichi would definitely come second for its audacity, tight camera work and mysterious milieu. Gozu for an even stranger sphere. The Bird People in China proves Miike to be one of the best new directors coming out Japan aside from Shinya Tsukamoto and many have struggled to follow his footsteps since.
Dead or Alive is my favourite.
“He is our Fassbinder.”
@Francisco J. Torres
By “our” do you mean your generation?
1. The Bird People of China
2. Ley Lines
3. Audition
4. Rainy Dog
5. Ichi the Killer
Takashi Miike made some astonishing quiet dramas during the late 90s before he became infamous with his more controversial films, it´s sad that he is currently just another commercial filmmaker.
Ichi
Audition
Ley Lines
He’s as far from Fassbinder as Miike is from Woody….
what are the most violent Miike’s movies?
Which Miike movies do not take place in Tokyo?
Which Miike movie has the best cinematography?
Visitor Q by a lot.
Audition and Gozu are a given, but am i the only one that really liked Izo?
Fudoh is such a cool movie
RaySquirrel
Though I would throw this question out.
Miike has been putting out an average 4 movies a year since he first started working back in the 1980s. Anyone have a personal favorite or think one film of his ranks above all of his others. For me it is a toss-up between two.
Audition – the movie that I am sure was the introductory Miike film for many in the west. I am no different. The film is pretty much a perfect horror movie. Much like Fargo, there is not one wasted scene. And is almost malicious in how it establishes a perfect image of domesticity only to rip it away in bloody horror.
Dead or Alive 2 – A sequel to a movie where the world blows up. This is quite possibly one of the most original films I have ever seen. With exception to the gangster movie plot there is not one cliche. The film is stylistically frenetic while being calm and nostalgic.