Miike's biggest genre flavoring is the Yakuza, usually approaching them from a surrealist or nihilist perspective (and, indeed, mostly both). This one goes the nihilist route but is a lot more loving and emotional. In the end, the trials of hyper-violent people results in nothing but destruction, but this time a strong sense of family is created.
And family is what it's all about, in a much more direct and simple narrative way than the shock value of Visitor Q. The two "brothers" and their "boss" are immediately shown as an integral and caring nuclear family, complete with sunsets and Gothic music. The boss's wife at first seems distant from this nucleus, but as things develop she becomes more and more integral until she in fact becomes the cause with which motivates the drama. In terms of narrative film-making, this is definitely an example of Miike being able to make a straight-forward dramatic story with emotional emphasis beyond shock and sensation.
There is also some interesting choices in the approach to violence, which is different from most of his other movies. Violence here is as expressionistic as always, but video effects and purposefully uneven audio distances the viewer from it and causes a very real cognitive dissonance--something he obviously did very purposefully and very well. It's amazing how one person can go and find so many different ways of portraying similar themes, changing them to fit the mood and tone of the movie. Yakuza Demon features some real masterful directing.
One warning, though. For those of you, like me, who dislike chewing noises and the sounds of people eating (think the scene from Lord of the Rings), this movie can be a real exercise in patience. It's not just a minor nitpick as actually scenes of eating and talking at the same time fill up a good third of the playlength. Again I think this is purposeful and again I'm pretty sure it has to do with theme--a group of people subsistence surviving and trading money and fighting, with very little reason or power behind it and only a single unit that actually loves.
--PolarisDiB
And family is what it's all about, in a much more direct and simple narrative way than the shock value of Visitor Q. The two "brothers" and their "boss" are immediately shown as an integral and caring nuclear family, complete with sunsets and Gothic music. The boss's wife at first seems distant from this nucleus, but as things develop she becomes more and more integral until she in fact becomes the cause with which motivates the drama. In terms of narrative film-making, this is definitely an example of Miike being able to make a straight-forward dramatic story with emotional emphasis beyond shock and sensation.
There is also some interesting choices in the approach to violence, which is different from most of his other movies. Violence here is as expressionistic as always, but video effects and purposefully uneven audio distances the viewer from it and causes a very real cognitive dissonance--something he obviously did very purposefully and very well. It's amazing how one person can go and find so many different ways of portraying similar themes, changing them to fit the mood and tone of the movie. Yakuza Demon features some real masterful directing.
One warning, though. For those of you, like me, who dislike chewing noises and the sounds of people eating (think the scene from Lord of the Rings), this movie can be a real exercise in patience. It's not just a minor nitpick as actually scenes of eating and talking at the same time fill up a good third of the playlength. Again I think this is purposeful and again I'm pretty sure it has to do with theme--a group of people subsistence surviving and trading money and fighting, with very little reason or power behind it and only a single unit that actually loves.
--PolarisDiB