Takashi Miike (三池崇史 Miike Takashi - pron. MEE-ee-keh tak-ASH-ee) (born August 24, 1960 in Osaka, Japan) is a highly prolific Japanese filmmaker, having directed over sixty theatrical, video and television productions since his debut in 1991. For the years 2001 and 2002, he is credited with directing no fewer than fourteen productions. Many of his films contain graphic, almost cartoonish violence and bloodshed, criminals (especially yakuza), or concern themselves with non-Japanese living in Japan (such as Brazilians, Chinese, or Russians), though there is considerable variety beyond this in some of his 'lesser' releases.

One aspect of his films for which he is also known is the seemingly deliberately ambiguous or merely unsatisfying endings to many of his films. The subsequent discussions of these films on Internet message_boards has added to the heightening of his cult status.

He graduated from Yokohama Vocational School of Broadcast and Film (Yokohama Hoso Eiga Senmon Gakko), under the guidance of renowned filmmaker Shohei Imamura, the founder and Dean.

He gained world notoriety in 2000 when his horror film Audition and violent yakuza epic debuted in international film festivals, and has a strong cult following in The West that is growing with the increase in DVD releases of his works.

His very first films were television productions, but he directed several direct-to-video, or v-cinema releases that were purportedly financed as money-laundering operations for the yakuza, although there has never been any conclusive proof of this. He continues to direct v-cinema releases due to the creative freedom afforded by the less stringent censorship of the medium and the riskier content the producers will allow.

His most controversial film has been Ichi the Killer (2001) (殺し屋１), adapted from a manga of the same name, and starring Tadanobu Asano as a sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer named Kakihara looking for a mysterious killer named Ichi, who disembowels people with razor blades in his boots, and seems to be targeting Kakihara's gang. (During its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2001, the audience received "barf bags" emblazoned with the film's logo as a promotional gimmick.) Its flamboyant gory killings include Ichi slicing a man in half from head to groin, and severing another's face, which then slides down a nearby wall. The BBFC refused to show the film uncut in Britain, and in Hong Kong it was shown missing over 15 minutes of footage (though in the United States it has been shown uncut and unrated). An uncut DVD was released in the Benelux.

Not all of Miike's films are gorefests, however. The Happiness of the Katakuris was a farcical musical comedy involving zombies, and Ley Lines and Agitator were character-driven, serious crime dramas. Graveyard of Honor is a remake of the 1975 Kinji Fukasaku film by the same name.

Filmography

• Shinjuku Triad Society (1995)
• Fudoh: The New Generation (1996)
• Rainy Dog (1997)
• Full Metal Yakuza (1997)
• The Bird People in China (1998)
• Andoromedeia (1998)
• Blues Harp (1998)
• Ley Lines (1999)
• Dead or Alive (1999)
• Audition (2000)
• MPD Psycho (2000) (TV miniseries)
• City of Lost Souls (2000)
• The Guys from Paradise (2000)
• Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000)
• Visitor Q (2001)
• Ichi the Killer (2001)
• Agitator (2001)
• The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)
• Dead or Alive: Final (2002)
• Graveyard of Honor (2002)
• Deadly Outlaw: Rekka (2002)
• Gozu (2003)
• One Missed Call (2003)
• Zebraman (2004)
• Three... Extremes (2004) - segment Box
• Izo (2004)

External links

• Takashi Miike at the Japanese Movie Database (JMDb) (in Japanese)

Further Reading

• Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike by Tom Mes