殺し屋１
based on an original manga banned in several parts of Japan, Ichi stuns me everytime I watch it. Recently I began collecting the original manga by Hideo Yamamoto, and I was reminded of just how difficult it is to adapt a graphic novel for the screen without cutting its heart out and stamping on it.
but this > mindless incessant violence, bloody, gory, twisted, and sick as a day out at the Utah county fair… everything from dismemberment to rape, torture and voyeur masturbation. > stay away if you’re anything but a mature seinen fan.
The achievement of Miike with Ichi for me is that he is one of the only directors ever to get the manga tone (or any other comic book tone) right.
Sacking off realism and instead using conventions for presenting violence found in comic books and children’s (illustrated) storytelling, Miike actually plays a game of constantly building threat and expectation and then pulling the camera away for the act itself, returning to the aftermath only after we as viewer/voyeur have added wide-eyed repulsion to the emotive mix.
Add to this his masterful work as director of the actors > keeping the human at (torn from the socket) arms length, the film itself (and it’s ever increasing spiral of violence) is the loci of the emotions, not the characters, and hence we are able to experience a mix of revulsions, pities, despairs, terrors and angers without being concerned about anything extrinsic to the movie. He draws performances out that make us believe in these sick individuals, and the naturalism (not realism) builds to a fever pitch. Like sitting in a room with 9 rabid rottweilers and a packet of dog biscuits, and knowing that no matter how cool you play it, you’re not getting out of here without some scars.
Both the manga and the film draw you in as a reader/audience so as to let you experience wild ferocity, frame by frame, and revel in it.
T
殺し屋１
based on an original manga banned in several parts of Japan, Ichi stuns me everytime I watch it. Recently I began collecting the original manga by Hideo Yamamoto, and I was reminded of just how difficult it is to adapt a graphic novel for the screen without cutting its heart out and stamping on it.
but this > mindless incessant violence, bloody, gory, twisted, and sick as a day out at the Utah county fair… everything from dismemberment to rape, torture and voyeur masturbation. > stay away if you’re anything but a mature seinen fan.
The achievement of Miike with Ichi for me is that he is one of the only directors ever to get the manga tone (or any other comic book tone) right.
Sacking off realism and instead using conventions for presenting violence found in comic books and children’s (illustrated) storytelling, Miike actually plays a game of constantly building threat and expectation and then pulling the camera away for the act itself, returning to the aftermath only after we as viewer/voyeur have added wide-eyed repulsion to the emotive mix.
Add to this his masterful work as director of the actors > keeping the human at (torn from the socket) arms length, the film itself (and it’s ever increasing spiral of violence) is the loci of the emotions, not the characters, and hence we are able to experience a mix of revulsions, pities, despairs, terrors and angers without being concerned about anything extrinsic to the movie. He draws performances out that make us believe in these sick individuals, and the naturalism (not realism) builds to a fever pitch. Like sitting in a room with 9 rabid rottweilers and a packet of dog biscuits, and knowing that no matter how cool you play it, you’re not getting out of here without some scars.
Both the manga and the film draw you in as a reader/audience so as to let you experience wild ferocity, frame by frame, and revel in it.
Excellent adaptation, methinks.