This film is certainly not for fans of mainstream flicks, I'm not even sure if it's for all fans of the darker side of Asian cinema either.
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, to be honest, even when you do force some framework of a plot onto the film (and think "there, that's what it all means"), you're still wondering why one character did this, what that scene meant etc.
The plot itself could be written in a few sentences, but it's the characters which really flesh out the film. Their mannerisms, the fact that you REALLY want to dislike some of them, you want the main character to dislike them. Yet, he doesn't it seems, and neither did I. Very rarely does a film actually make me want to think about the characters, decide whether I'd ever want to encounter such people in life.
One thing that really bites about this film (it's been highlighted by other reviewers) is the length of the picture. A lot of this extra time comes from empty scenes where nothing happens, nobody says anything and there's precious little to think about. The film could easily have lost half an hour of 'gawp-time' and still been just as delicious (if not more so). That knocks a point off the score, particularly when a film is this good! I don't want to have internal arguments about whether to fast-forward or not, I want to enjoy the film.
That aside, I'm delighted to have this film on the shelf.
If you're not 100% sure of your love of Takashi Miike's work, I'd recommend renting this first. If you've seen none of Miike's work, definitely rent first!
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, to be honest, even when you do force some framework of a plot onto the film (and think "there, that's what it all means"), you're still wondering why one character did this, what that scene meant etc.
The plot itself could be written in a few sentences, but it's the characters which really flesh out the film. Their mannerisms, the fact that you REALLY want to dislike some of them, you want the main character to dislike them. Yet, he doesn't it seems, and neither did I. Very rarely does a film actually make me want to think about the characters, decide whether I'd ever want to encounter such people in life.
One thing that really bites about this film (it's been highlighted by other reviewers) is the length of the picture. A lot of this extra time comes from empty scenes where nothing happens, nobody says anything and there's precious little to think about. The film could easily have lost half an hour of 'gawp-time' and still been just as delicious (if not more so). That knocks a point off the score, particularly when a film is this good! I don't want to have internal arguments about whether to fast-forward or not, I want to enjoy the film.
That aside, I'm delighted to have this film on the shelf.
If you're not 100% sure of your love of Takashi Miike's work, I'd recommend renting this first. If you've seen none of Miike's work, definitely rent first!