Gozu
Gozu is probably the flat-out strangest, most mind-bending movie from Takashi Miike; a Japanese auteur who has made built his repuations on movies which are some combination of bizarre symbolism, Black Comedy, Darker and Edgier, and Gorn.
Starting ostensibly as yet another Yakuza movie, it takes a major turn into the surreal very soon into the story. Yakuza junior member Minami is ordered by the head of the gang to take his increasingly erratic and unstable senior member Ozaki out to a remote location, where he can be disposed of by an allied "cleaner". On the way, Ozaki dies mysteriously; and the story takes a turn for the decidedly surreal, when Ozaki's body disappears in a nearly-deserted, run-down suburb of Nagoya. Nothing appears to make much sense after that, either to the viewer or the protagonist. Minami endures a number of episodic, and confusing, adventures, and meets a cast of highly deranged characters -- including a middle-aged woman who bottles and sells her breast milk; a huge, minotaur-like being wearing baggy underwear; several crossdressers who run the town's cafe; an unreliable guide with an odd skin condition; and a beautiful, enigmatic woman who claims to be his brother Ozaki.
At first, the entire film seems to be just a collection of random weirdness. However, it actually makes sense with the knowledge that nearly all the characters and events which take place after the arrival in Nagoya are based on events and figures from Greek and Japanese mythology; and that the entire story represents Minami's sexual awakening, and his coming to terms with both his homosexuality and his love for Ozaki.
It was originally planned as a straightforward action movie intended for a theatrical release; but lacked a sufficient budget. Rather than turning down the project, Miike decided to run with it, completely re-wrote it, and released it Direct to Video. The new script was produced in about a week; and much of the dialog, particularly for pivotal scenes, is completely improvised.
Warning: Due to the nature of the story, the list below may contain spoilers.
- Ambiguously Gay: Several of the Nagoya denizens, particularly the guide.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Although solid for most of the movie, the fourth wall is broken briefly in one of the very rare examples (possibly the only one) where the break is both comedic and oddly disturbing.
- Fan Disservice: Hoo boy.
- Gayngster: Minami, and ultimately Ozaki. Possibly others.
- Gorn: Surprisingly little for a Miike film; but there are a few moments.
- Improv: Some of the key scenes were improvised, as was a great deal of dialog.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: The entire story after the arrival in Nagoya can be seen as this.
- Jumping the Gender Barrier: Sort of, used symbolically.
- Kick the Dog: Gangster Ozaki, in the "Yakuza attack dog" scene at the beginning of the movie. Well, not so much kick the dog, as pick it up by its leash and bash it to a bloody pulp on the nearest wall. Both figuratively and literally. The moment where Ozaki clearly goes from annoyingly unstable, to dangerously insane.
- Lethal Chef: The chicken custard.
- Mind Screw: Even when you know what the movie is about.
- Reincarnation
- Surreal Horror: Although more horrific for the protagonist than the audience.
- Throw It In: The store-owner's American wife knew no Japanese, and had to read her lines phonetically off cue cards posted above her head. She proved to be absolutely hopeless at anything resembling proper pronunciation or competent acting. Miike found the result interesting, and expanded it into the Breaking the Fourth Wall moment mentioned above.
- Villainous Crossdresser: The staff of the cafe in Nagoya aren't actually villainous; just... really disturbing.
- Yakuza