Koroshiya 1 (2001)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Hideo Yamamoto (comic)
Sakichi Satô (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 July 2002 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Ai wa, kanari itai. (Love really hurts.)

Plot:

When a Yakuza boss named Anjo disappears with 300 million yen, his chief henchman, a sadomasochistic man named Kakihara...

Plot Keywords:

Sadist | Glasses | Dark Humor | Screaming | Dark

Awards:

6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Tadanobu Asano	...	Kakihara
Nao Omori	...	Ichi
Shinya Tsukamoto	...	Jijii
Paulyn Sun	...	Karen (as Alien Sun)
Susumu Terajima	...	Suzuki (as Sabu)
Shun Sugata	...	Takayama
Toru Tezuka	...	Fujiwara
Yoshiki Arizono	...	Nakazawa
Kiyohiko Shibukawa	...	Ryu Long (as Kee)
Satoshi Niizuma	...	Inoue
Suzuki Matsuo	...	Jirô / Saburô
Jun Kunimura	...	Funaki
Hiroyuki Tanaka	...	Kaneko
Moro Morooka	...	Coffee Shop Manager
Houka Kinoshita	...	Sailor's Lover

Also Known As:

Ichi the Killer (International: English title)
Koroshiya ichi (Japan) (alternative spelling)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong perverse violence/gore and sexuality, language and drug content.

Runtime:

129 min | Germany:110 min (heavily cut) | UK:120 min | USA:117 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Japan | Hong Kong | South Korea

Language:

Japanese | Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Norway:(Banned) (re-rating) (2008) | Chile:18 | Brazil:18 (DVD rating) | Germany:18 (heavily cut) | Germany:(Banned) (uncut) | Portugal:M/18 | Sweden:15 | Norway:18 (uncut) (2007) | Australia:R | Canada:18+ (Québec) | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating) | France:-12 | Hong Kong:III (cut) | Ireland:18 (heavily cut) | Italy:VM18 | Japan:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:R (cut) | USA:Unrated

Company:

Omega Project

Trivia:

When Kakihara's cell phone rings, the ringtone is the movie's theme song.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Kakihara is attacked in the streets, protective padding is visible under his clothing. Look for it when he bends over backwards without falling over, before he removes his piercings.

Quotes:

[Kakihara gets punched]
Kakihara: Put some feeling into it, already! If you're going to give someone pain, you've got to get into it!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Oldboy (2003)

Ichi The Killer Rocks...

Ichi The Killer's storyline is absolutely brilliant and Takeshi Miike has turned the Anime comic into a masterpiece, combining "love", comedy and horror. You have to look passed the violence (which is quite humorous at times, ie; the prostitute trying to smile with a bruised face). If you watch this movie with an open mind, you will notice there is not one single dull moment and this is not an exaggeration. The ending is very mind boggling and leaves you to come up with your own conclusion, the soundtrack is awesome and the cinematography is very original; the camera angles displayed in the scene just after the Anjo group is kicked out of the syndicate amaze me, displaying a shot over Kakihara's right hand mans shoulder leaves me astounded, literally. Please, if you come across this movie, i beg you to see it; you certainly will not regret it.

Ichi The Killer rocks. 10/10