takashi miike

I think he might be brilliant.

City Of Lost Souls.

Of the ones I've seen, I'd rank 'em -

Ichi The Killer > Fudoh > Audition > City Of Lost Souls > Visitor Q > Happiness Of The Katakuris

Keeping up with Miike releases is almost a full time job. Of the more recent ones, Zebraman looks interesting, and I'm excited about his involvement in the next 'Three' film.

happiness of the katakuris >>>> visitor q >>>> ichi the killer >>>> dead or alive >>>> audition >>>> gozu >>>> graveyard of honor >>>> rainy dog

Pretty Miike.

Happiness of the Katakuris is his Sound of Music musical with claymation and dancing zombies

Audition's his middle-age horror/sex film

Ichi the Killer his homerotic yakuza gore SM film

There's nothing he can't do stranger and technically better than most anyone.

Right off the bat, it's compositionally superior to Lars Von Trier, who Miike is making fun of in much of the camerawork and at first, seeming misogynism.

Check out the lighting, how he frames things, the dolly shots and editing. The beautiful chromatic depth of scenes, his understanding of how to use the chromaric range and depth of field of DV--it was shot on an off-the-shelf, consumer digital camera--and then remind think that he did all this in *five* days.

Look at Audition, the subtle shifts in dynamics, the amazing range of lighting set-ups, framing devices, etc. (I think this one took a whopping 3 weeks to film.)

Look at Audition, the subtle shifts in dynamics, the amazing range of lighting set-ups, framing devices, etc. (I think this one took a whopping 3 weeks to film.)

Dude, I'm not saying that Miike didn't have an influence in these things, but you might wanna at least share some of this credit with his DP, Hideo Yamamoto. I mean, I'm not telling you what to do or anything...

Isn't the new "hip" thing now in "discovering" under-PR'd crew members' work?

Sure--the DPs deserve props. But he uses different people, he has a very firm grasp of camera and lighting technique himself.

Surely they add lustre, but Miike sets the basic imagistic design.

As for under PRed crews--I cannot stand the "a film by" credit line. Unless, say, it's Cronenberg--someone who writes, produces, directs his stuff.