Hyôryû-gai (2000)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Seishu Hase (novel)
Ichiro Ryu (writer)

Release Date:

8 August 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Violent gangster movie with a Brazilian protagonist.

Plot Keywords:

Cocaine | Yakuza | Brazilian | Underworld | Helicopter

Cast

Teah	...	Mario
Michelle Reis	...	Kei
Patricia Manterola	...	Lucia
Mitsuhiro Oikawa	...	Ko
Koji Kikkawa	...	Fushimi
Ren Osugi
Akaji Maro
Anatoli Krasnov	...	Khodoloskii
Sebastian DeVicente	...	Rikardo
Terence Yin	...	Riku
Atsushi Okuno	...	Carlos
Akira Emoto	...	Kuwata
Eugene Nomura	...	Yamazaki
Marcio Rosario	...	Sanchez
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nabeel Kort	...	Gangster
Margarida Miranda
Ryushi Mizukami	...	Ide
Takeshi Nakajima
Tokitoshi Shiota	...	Beaten chicken owner

Also Known As:

The City of Last Souls (Hong Kong: English title) (DVD title)
The City of Lost Souls (USA)
The City of Strangers (International: English title)
The Hazard City

MPAA:

Rated R for strong brutal violence, language, sex and drug content.

Runtime:

103 min | Canada:100 min | USA:102 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Mandarin | Russian | Japanese | Portuguese | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:R | Germany:16 | New Zealand:R18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Daiei Motion Picture Company

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Matrix (1999)

Intoxicating mix of action and surreal urban fairy tale

Contrary to some of the other imdb users' comments, CITY OF LOST SOULS is one of Takashi Miike's most entertaining films. While not possessing quite the same intensity or shock value of other Miike masterpieces like DEAD OR ALIVE, CITY...nevertheless is fastmoving, balances comic book tall tale surrealism expertly with plenty of violence, sick humor as well as the doomed love story -- what more could you ask? It is NOT the run of the mill generic, mediocre, forgettable action film that most great action film directors are turning out these days. And it involves you with the characters (a multi-ethnic melting pot -- which, as astounding as it may seem to some incredulous viewers, is what major Japanese urban centers are like in this day and age -- by the way, Brazil, home country of lead halfbreed character,Mario, has one of the largest Japanese immigrant populations in the world). If you enjoy Miike, don't miss this. It's his most romantic film (!) without sacrificing any of the blood, the dark, dark humor or bizarre imagery we've come to expect from this unpredictable genius.