Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike:

Does he retain his auteur status after transcending the East/West divide?

Things to consider in Miike’s films

• Glossary• Films• Themes: “Family”, “The Outsider”

and “Order”• Depiction of violence in Ichi the Killer• Eastern cinema: Conventions of film

violence • Auteur status• Conclusion

Glossary

• Dove style violence – Popular in contemporary Japanese filmmaking, where people abuse each other with a detached cruelty

Yakuza – Japanese mafia

Tom Mes –Midnight Eye website editor and critic of Japanese cinema,with an interest in Takashi Miike

Munchausen’s by Proxy – The exaggeration or fabrication of illnesses by a primary caregiver

Films

• Focus film:• Ichi The Killer (2001)

• Other films:• Audition (1999)• Chakushin Ari (2003)

What is an auteur?• “A director is like an author; an

author writes with words, a director writes with film.”

• Characteristics of an auteur • Why I chose the films

Themes: Family

Audition

Chakushin Ari

Themes:The

Outsider

Ichi the Killer

Audition

Themes:Order

Ichi the Killer

Chakushin Ari

Depictions of violence

Depictions of violence towards men

• Violence is more graphic and depicted on screen

• Mes suggests that: “Violence against men in the falls into the comical category”

• Mes, violence and audience response

Film stills depicting violence towards men

Kakihara (r), torturing Suzuka to find out who killed his boss

“Just a little torture”

Ichi slicing in half a pimp

Depictions of violence towards women

• More realism in the violence• Is it misogynistic?• Mes, violence and the audience• Representations of victims• How violence is shown on screen

Film stills depicting violence towards women

Nipple slicing scene

Eastern cinema: Conventions of film violence

•Focus on the physical

•Audience reaction

•Emphasis on physical suffering

•“Dove style” violence

•Emphasis on consequences

•Japanese audience – voyeur audience

Auteur status •Awards•Work in S-T-V/V-Cinema•Hostel and “Masters Of Horror”•Film Festivals•Cult status•Agitator : Tom Mes and Miike

Conclusion(Can I answer my question?)

“I’m happy that my films were discovered by chance by foreign film festivals. That makes me realise more

that there is a world outside Japan too.

“For me, it’s an occasion to meet many people and experience directly the responses of international

audiences to my films.

“But for me, as a director, my attitude towards making films hasn’t changed with the fame

“I feel it’s not good to change as a person anyway”

(Takashi Miike)