TAKASHI MIIKE’S FREAKY CONTRIBUTION TO MASTERS OF HORROR: IMPRINT
IMPRINT
2006/Director: Takashi Miike /Writers: Mike Garris, Daisuke Tengan
Cast: Billy Drago, Youki Kudoh, Michie Itô, Toshie Negishi
I really liked the movie Audition by Miike and have seen a handful of his other works such as Visitor Q, Gozu, Ichi the Killer and something called Izu I think. I guess I am getting a feel of what his work is about and it seems to be primarily shock style cinema. That is, jolt the audience with freaky and offensive imagery with an emphasis on anything taboo and deviant and blasphemous. No subtlty. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that in my book. I guess nothing in his movies is any worse than some of the scenes from Saving Private Ryan in a way. I am an above average fan of splatter and gore cinema from way back. The problem I have with Miike’s films is the same problem I have with some one like lets say Dario Argento. I just have no friggin’ clue as to what the movie is supposed to be about. Audition and Visitor Q seem to have some effective linear narrative going on but the other movies I’ve seen just seem to abandon plot for well photographed but ultimately pointless scenes designed to simply disgust or offend the viewer. The movie itself becomes nothing but a vehicle for these disturbing images rather than the other way around. The plot and story simply become secondary to the shock scenes.
This film was originally to be aired on cable TV’s Showtime’s Masters of Horror but was banned (as the DVD cover so proudly advertises) due to the films excesses. It is no freakier than his other films but this was supposed to be made for mass consumption on prime time cable. Argento also had a film banned, or extremely edited, as well called Jenifer (a review is finished and simply needs to be posted). In any case I guess they took a look at this stuff and wanted nothing to do with it. I suppose my mind is numb now from a thousand and one gore films in my life and though it bothered me somewhat I was more perturbed by the lack of logical direction with the narrative.
The basic plot is this; Billy Drago is an American who goes back to Japan looking for a prostitute named Komoko (Michie Itô) he fell in love with. After long searches he winds up on a haunted island full of ghosts and cutthroats and, well, whores. He finally finds some people who knew his prostitute lover Komoko and then the movie goes off into these conflicting story flashback things and you never know if it is the truth or not. The woman (Youki Kudoh) telling the story has a congenitally deformed face and later we discover that an evil, even more deformed twin lives on the side of her head up under her bun of hair ( and the little freak really likes shiny things). The flashbacks go into images of violent wife beatings, incest, child rape and abortions and images of aborted fetuses falling on the ground or floating in rivers. I guess that would about do it for American TV censors. A really intense torture sequence goes on longer than you think it needs to as the envious whores ram all sort of rods and pins into Komoko under orders to not damage her face. The torture is to supposed to extract the truth about a stolen ring, but it was stolen by the evil twin that no one knows about. Drago goes insane with rage as the convoluted and confusing story evolves and it seems as though the mutant whore murdered Komoko. He blows her brains out and winds up in a Japanese prison babbling over a fetus in a bucket. Anyway, that’s about the gist of it. You can decide if you can handle that stuff or not. I think I will have to watch it a few more times to decide if it disgusts me or not.
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February 15th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Okay, I was with you on Jenifer, but I have a soft-spot for Miike, so I can’t help you bastardize him. I think it’s unfair to lump the man in with Argento, and I’ll tell you why (without assuming you give a damn). Unlike Argento, I really don’t think Miike appeals to the audience’s gag reflex in an attempt to shock the senses because in Japanese cinema, there are no taboos. He’s just doing what he does best, and that’s create a bizarre gore porn. It’s something Americans aren’t familiar with because the only imitations we create of Asian horror consist of twitchy, long-haired apparitions that crawl around killin’ bitches who watch the wrong movie or get the wrong cornea implants.
February 15th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Plutonium Sue
I love your name
I really do! Anyway, I love Miike too and I think I was resorting to some basic hyperbole here to add shock to the shock-meister’s short film, which is my favorite of all the Masters of Horrors I have seen and I think I have seen them all. I am a fan of Japanese cinema and that includes the sort of ‘gore porn’ variety, though some of that stuff is simply poorly made. I have the Guinea Pig series here and heard all this stuff about it and even have a book on Japanese cinema that focuses on that series but the ones I have skimmed over were shot on video and that can ruin a film (well, it would not really be a film now would it) for me. I know video has been used by guys like David Fincher with great success but not everyone is David Fincher I guess.
This was an early review for me and I will probably revisit Audition,at least, one day for a new review. I always hated my review for that great film. I have Miike’s gangster/yakuza films here and have not finished them (some seem to be some sort of series) and would have to go back and rewatch some of them and do a little write on them. I am happy there are guys like Miike who explores other forms of Japanese/Asian horror than the scary girl who stares at you through the gap in her hair.
February 16th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Okay, you’ve appeased my delicate sensibilities and insured my continued readership. Now, onto more pressing matters. I searched your site and have not found a word about Park Chanwook or his Vengeance trilogy. Since I know you are an enthusiast of Asian cinema, I am sure you have at least seen Oldboy. I think it is a must that you write something about it! Consider this a request and feel free to either consider it or wipe your ass with it. Either way, it won’t be the last time I bring it up.
Have a lovely day.
February 16th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
I have seen Old Boy but was not aware that it was part of a trilogy. I suppose I can consider a post on this since I do not think I have done a South Korean film yet. Most of what I call Aisian cinema (other than Japan) tends to be stuff out of Hong Kong before Hong Kong was returned to China. I think there have been some decent films since 1997 out of Hong Kong but I have to confess I do not follow it as passionately as I should. you may or may not know that I live in China and my views on some of Asian cinema have changed after living here for over five years. I can tell you I all but detest mainland Chinese movies. All these ‘historical epics’ anymore. No human drama, action or horror off the mainland. Maybe here and there but they are over shadowed by the deluge of romantic/war films set in the Tang or Qin Dynasties. Not complainging about the return to ‘wu xia’ cinema (heroic kung fu) but it is obvious that Hong Kong and the Shaw Brothers cornered the market on that and the mainland simply lacks the true vision required to pull it off. Why not just make a film about the horrors of the Cultural Revolution!
Not a huge fan of most of the ghost films out of South Korea but do like the macho action stuff. But ghost stories are a big deal in Asia. Those scenes we scoff at (some girl standing motionless and peering with a single eye through her Yoko Ono hairdo) sends people running and screaming here. I think there are some new South Korean (I want to distinguish between the thriving film industry in S.K. and the one in N.K., of which is not one) horror films I ahve been looking for. One about a giant, killer boar or something looks promising.
Thanks for the request but I am a master of procrastination. I am about to get back to some Japanese film posts, including one that should be done today on The Horrors of Malformed Men.
Bill
February 17th, 2010 at 5:28 am
You live in China! That is too amazing! I am teaching myself Mandarin now because I, too, wanna live there someday. I love a lot of Chinese movies. Especially the ones pertaining to the cultural revolution and all the triad nonsense. I really enjoy the work of director, Fruit Chan. Have you seen 3 Extremes? If not, it is a three part horror fest with works featured by Miike, Chanwook, and Chan.
There is a lot I love about all facets of Asian cinema, particular the willingness to leave the viewer feeling bad at the end of the movie, no matter the genre. American films have a tendency to want to please, whereas Chinese, Korean and Japanese movies most always have a sad ending, at least in my experience. But the Korean films are generally my favorite because they’ve mastered the mind-fuck genre. Even their love stories are twisted, as Kim Ki-Duk has shown us.
February 17th, 2010 at 5:29 am
Oh, and I forgot. My name is Kirste. Nice to meet you.
February 17th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Kirstie
Well you seem much more up on your Asian cinema than I am. yes I do give spoilers galore. it is something I debated with in my tortured soul when my so called reviews started to take some sort of shape or form I was a little happy with. I simply had to base my feelings on the type of reviews I like to read and most of the ones I like were spoiler laden. I do not try to give a blow by blow run down of the film. I usually lead in with some personal opinions and trivia, when I can find on it as some of these films are rather obscure I am finding, then a synopsis of about three short paragraphs. Then by the end when I am supposed to conclude everything and wrap it all up with some witty remarks I am burned out and all but blather out “THE END” and move on to the next project.
I definitely encourage you to learn some Mandarin and even how to read a few characters. I am not good after five years. I have a vocabulary of a couple hundred words maybe and a can form maybe a couple dozen simple phrases and then substitute nouns but I am lost all the time. Most people here will speak to you so fast and use way too may words. As well, something I have learned since my Chinese has improved, is that many people here do not even speak good Mandarin themselves! Wow. They can speak it (they call it Pu Tong Hua here, the ‘common language’) of course but they cannot do the tones or get the pronunciation much better than a lao wai (foreigner). They use there local dialects more and only use Pu Tong Hua when necessary. Like the city I live in,Kunming, I always confuse the way they say 4 and 10. Basic numbers. They pronounce the ten (shi) as a four (si) and it is a hassle when your trying to pay fro things. Even my wife who is Chinese and was raised on the East here near Shanghai has a hard time so what am I supposed to go. I recommend the Plimsluer (sp?) MP3 series as a way to get used to hearing it and you will ave no trouble getting a visa and teaching position here in the future.
Anyway. I do know the film you mentioned, 3 Extremes. I have it here somewhere. Not too familiar with many anti-Cultural Revolution here except Xiu Xiu The Sent Down Girl. It was banned here but you can find banned stuff all inside the DVD stores. Most of the CR films I think were fairly propaganda tainted. Have you ever seen the opera The Girls of the Red Army Division (my poor translation of Hong Si Niang Zi Jun). It is total progoganda but a great little film of about one hour long. They have it on Youtube I think.
Too long a reply! Need to get writing my next marvel on Santo and Blue Demon vs Dracula and the Wolf Man. Go from Asia to Mexico today.
Bill