Ichi the Killer (2001)

As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Hideo Yamamoto (comic), Sakichi Satô (screenplay)

Stars:

Tadanobu Asano, Nao Ômori, Shin'ya Tsukamoto

6 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tadanobu Asano	...	Kakihara
Nao Ômori	...	Ichi
Shin'ya 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
SABU	...	Kaneko (as Hiroyuki Tanaka)
Moro Morooka	...	Coffee Shop Manager
Hôka Kinoshita	...	Sailor's Lover

Storyline

When a Yakuza boss named Anjo disappears with 300 million yen, his chief henchman, a sadomasochistic man named Kakihara, and the rest of his mob goons go looking for him. After capturing and torturing a rival Yakuza member looking for answers, they soon realize they have the wrong man and begin looking for the man named Jijii who tipped them off in the first place. Soon enough Kakihara and his men encounter Ichi, a psychotic, sexually-repressed young man with amazing martial arts abilities and blades that come out of his shoes. One by one Ichi takes out members of the Yakuza and all the while Kakihara intensifies his pursuit of Ichi and Ichi's controller Jijii. What will happen as the final showdown happens between the tortured and ultra-violent Ichi and the pain-craving Kakihara?

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Plot Keywords:

severed foot | yakuza | gang | pain | blade | 

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Taglines:

hisashiburini zetsubou shitéyo. majide. (It's been a while since I wanted to despair. Really.)

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese Cantonese English

Release Date:

25 July 2002 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Ichi the Killer

Box Office

Budget:

$1,400,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Omega Project, Omega Micott Inc., Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min 117 min (heavily cut) 110 min (heavily cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Takashi Miike originally intended to have the author of the original manga (comic), Hideo Yamamoto, to write a script entirely in manga form, but the idea fell through when Yamamoto felt he could not complete it due to writer's block.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

[Kakihara tastes a bloodstained pile of money]
Kakihara: Yup. That's Boss Anjo's, all right.

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Crazy Credits

End credits scroll up, down, left, right, forwards and backwards.

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Connections

Referenced in Zombie Girl: The Movie (2009)

User Reviews

A Miike Masterpiece

Ichi the Killer is a landmark picture in Japanese Cinema. It is an audio and visual attack on the senses (and gag reflex) which adopts a unique style of movie/comic book- hybrid film making. A real Miike masterpiece!

Kakihara is not your typical Yakuza gangster. He is sadistic, masochistic, depraved, has a hair trigger for violence, and is really really upset that someone has kidnapped his boss, Anjo and taken off with 100 million yen. So, torturing his way through the underworld, he manages to get kicked out of the Yakuza and finds out, too late, that it was a man called Ichi that killed his boss and is now after him. Kakihara then sets out for revenge and vindication in the name of Anjo.

Ichi, on the other hand, seems to be a more simple kind of guy who works for an ex-cop who loves to wreak havoc on the Yakuza. Ichi's work is thought to be that of a brutally insane and blood thirsty maniac. But, upon meeting him, one can't help but notice his peculiar innocence and naiveté. However, it is this very feature that makes him so deadly.

When these two forces collide, it's endless violence, torture, rape, murder, blood, gore, and underworld danger and depravity. Ichi the Killer is a movie that directors like Quentin Tarantino only dream of making. If films were people, his Kill Bills would only watch and drool at Ichi the Killer!