Takashi Miike

Film / Reviews Feb 27, 2020

'First Love': A heartfelt throwback to the golden age of yakuza flicks

by Mark Schilling

Masataka Kubota plays a doomed boxer who takes on the yazuka in Takashi Miike's newest film.

Film | Wide Angle Dec 20, 2019

Takashi Miike shows his softer side at Macao film festival

by Mark Schilling

Japan's master of the ultra-violent, darkly comedic and low-budge yakuza flick, Takashi Miike, discusses the ideas of love and boxing which are prevelant in his latest film, 'First Love.'

Film | Wide Angle May 23, 2019

Japan takes a backseat at Cannes

by Mark Schilling

The Cannes Film Festival, the world's premier film event, has long been a holy grail for Japanese filmmakers. Selection for the main competition is the ultimate goal for many, though screenings in other sections convey prestige at home that other festivals, in Japan and ...

Film / Reviews Apr 26, 2017

'Blade of the Immortal': Film version of manga hit goes overboard in its execution

by Mark Schilling

Based on Hiroaki Samura's long-running (1993-2012) manga, the samurai swashbuckler "Blade of the Immortal" promises the sort of fun, over-the-top action that has long been a trademark of its director, Takashi Miike. However, it labors to deliver, including during the 300-against-1 fight scene shown in ...

Film / Reviews Dec 14, 2016

'The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio': Digging deep into the yakuza

by Mark Schilling

Since his start as a director in 1991, Takashi Miike has accumulated nearly 100 credits, including his output for television broadcast and straight-to-video release. Far from being the faceless journeyman this number suggests, Miike is a genre auteur who has put his individual stamp ...

Film | Wide Angle Dec 7, 2016

'Crazy Thunder Road' is still a mad, but great film

by James Hadfield

Sogo Ishii — or Gakuryu Ishii, as he now prefers to be known — was just 23 when he released "Crazy Thunder Road," perhaps one of the greatest films to emerge from Japan's punk era (an honor it shares with the director's 1982 follow-up, ...

Film / Reviews Apr 27, 2016

'Terraformars': Miike's life on Mars has its bugs

by Mark Schilling

Now that voyages to Mars seem likely in the next generation or so, films about the red planet are moving beyond the "John Carter" (2012) space-opera stage. But for every reality-based "The Martian," there is still a "Terraformars," Takashi Miike's latest extreme entertainment. The original ...

Film / Reviews May 20, 2015

Aikawa's brainless fun in 'Deadman Inferno'

by Mark Schilling

Sho Aikawa was once the tough-guy muse of Takashi Miike, appearing in films such as "Gokudo Kuroshakai" ("Rainy Dog"), "Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha" ("Dead or Alive") and "Gokudo Kyofu Dai-gekijo: Gozu" ("Gozu") that made the director the international "King of Cult." The sandpapery voice, ...

Stage Jan 28, 2015

Roppongi Kabuki cites sci-fi, punk

by Ayako Takahashi

Known for its nightlife, its fleets of Ferraris and condos with sky-high prices, the affluent central Tokyo district of Roppongi will soon go where even that multinational neighborhood has never gone before — when the launch of a program named Roppongi Kabuki will see ...

Stage Jan 1, 2015

Curtains up on 2015

by Ayako Takahashi, Natsume Date, Mana Katsura and Kris Kosaka

Innovation adds sparkle to traditional forms Looking into the crystal ball of Japan's traditional performing arts in 2015 reveals a sparkling blend of change and tradition. In what is its 120th year, the film and theater company and pillar of kabuki, Shochiku, will mark the succession ...

Film Jun 7, 2013

Screen violence is in the eye of the beholder

by Mark Schilling

Some people avoid violent films, while others watch little else. Professional movie reviewers, who may see hundreds of films annually, cannot afford to be so picky. If you are covering the Cannes Film Festival competition, as I did one year for the Screen International ...