GOZU

2003

Directed by Takashi Miike

A.K.A. Uh...What?

Plot Takeshi Miike is an incredible auteur in this day and age. And by auteur, I mean the word in every sense. His films have an immistakable "thumbprint" that make them his and his alone. Ironically, most auteurs work long and with great deliberation at creating their works, Miike instead keeps things to a lightining-fast pace, having made over 50 films in just 15 years of work. He also often esperiments with his own style, switching genres often. He's done comedies, horrors, super-hero films, and even musicals. However, his specialty seems to be focusing on keeping his tales within the world of the Yakuza. However, Miike has made many different types of films under that particular umbrella. One day, he must have thought to himself "Gee, I'd like to try to make the kind of movie that David Lynch makes", and so he made Gozu. The scene opens up on a small Yakuza meeting in a cafe. Ozaki, a high ranking member of the gang, notices a small dog being held and pampered by two girls outside. he tells the boss that it's a "Yakuza-attack-dog", trained to kill them when they leave. He then proceeds by going out, grabbing the dog's leash, whirling the poor thing over his head several times, then slamming it into a bloody mess against the window. Pretty reasonable thing to do, I suppose. And that's why I'm not the head of a Yakuza gang. They have Minami, a younger clan-member take Ozaki off to assassinate him. Unfortunately, the two are so close that they consider each other brothers, which causes quite a quandry for Minami. as they're driving, Ozaki makes him stop the car, thinking they're being followed. Minami knocks him out before he can kill the old woman driving what he believes to be a "Yakuza-attack-car". With Ozaki unconscious in the back, Minami keeps driving, until he's forced to stop suddenly, sending Ozaki flying into the front. Minami stopped because the road is out. When I say "out" I mean it seems like it never existed, as there's a huge lake in the way. Also, being flung into the dashboard seems to have been fatal for Ozaki. Minami's in quite a pickle now, isn't he? He eventually makes it into town, and is about to call the boss and tell him what happened, but his cell isn't working, and neither is the payphone he tries. So he goes to a restaurant to use their phone instead. Only it's hogged by a guy who keeps yammering on about how hot it is. He actually has a full counter's worth of change ready to keep talking. So Minami has a seat and waits. The trannie waitstaff are eager to serve him his tea and "complimentary" egg custard. After eating it, Minami promptly runs to the bathroom to throw up. I suspect it wasn't egg in that custard. When Minami gets back to his seat, he is shocked to realize that Ozaki is no longer in the car! He runs out to loo for him, but to no avail. Noone inside the restaurant seems to have seen him either. So Minam finally decides to call his boss and fess up. The Boss (really, that's his credited name) advises him to go find the local Yakuza clan that are in alliance with their gang for help. Minami goes to the address he got, only to find a Buddhist temple instead. Frustrated, he drives off. And promptly blows out a tire. What a day...A man sitting next to the road who happens to be half-albino diagnoses the problem immediately: A bone shard the size of my finger popped the tire. He offers to take him to his junkyard home/office to look for a spare. When they get there, Minami realizes that this is also home to the Yakuza clan he was looking for! He manages to get the boss to have Nose (the half-albino) help him find Ozaki. What ensues is a merry chase around town involving insane and surreal characters, such as the older, lactating inn-keeper and her mentally challenged, yet reportedly psychic brother, a drooling cow-god in soiled underwear, and an American woman who reads her lines phoenetically from cue cards that are seen by all, including Minami. All that's missing is the dotted line from the "Family Circus" comic strips. Eventually Minami finds himself at the Yakuza dumping grounds, which include a car crusher and an area with a dry-cleaners' line, where the skins of the "ex-Yakuza" are kept for storage and filing purposes. Apparently Ozaki wandered here, died, and got taken care of by the guys who run the place. Mildly disappointed, Minami goes to leave, but finds an attractive woman sitting in the back seat of the car, who claims to be Ozaki. She knows things that only Ozaki should know, too. So the two head off back for the big city... and things only get weirder. This is, without a doubt, the strangest movie that Miike has ever made, and that's obviously saying a lot. yet it's also probably one of his better outings. As I said, it's reminiscent of David Lynch, but in my opinion, Miike somehow takes the pretention out of intentional weirdness and surreality. I at least certainly enjoyed it more than your average "weird" Lynch film.

Rating I give Gozu: Four and a Half Rotting Shambling Corpses out of Five. If you can stand weirdness, you'll enjoy this film. Trust me.

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