Gozu (2003)
"Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu" (original title)

A yakuza enforcer is ordered to secretly drive his beloved colleague to be assassinated. But when the colleague unceremoniously disappears en route, the trip that follows is a twisted, surreal and horrifying experience.

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writer:

Sakichi Satô (screenplay)

Stars:

Yûta Sone, Shô Aikawa, Kimika Yoshino

5 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Yûta Sone	...	Minami (as Hideki Sone)
Shô Aikawa	...	Ozaki
Kimika Yoshino	...	Female Ozaki
Shôhei Hino	...	Nose
Keiko Tomita	...	Innkeeper
Harumi Sone	...	Innkeeper's Brother
Renji Ishibashi	...	Boss
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ken'ichi Endô
Kanpei Hazama
Masaya Katô
Tamio Kawaji	...	(as Tamio Kawachi)
Susumu Kimura
Hiroyuki Nagato
Hitoshi Ozawa
Kazuyoshi Ozawa

Storyline

Minami, a member of the Azamawari crew, highly respects his Aniki (brother) Ozaki who has saved his life in the past. However, lately Ozaki's eccentricities (like claiming that a Chihuahua hs sees is a 'Yakuza attack dog') have been making everyone wonder about his sanity. Chairman Azamawari is unsympathetic to Ozaki's little outbursts and secretly orders Minami to take Ozaki to a disposal facility in the city of Nagoya. There, the fate of these two follows a twisted path filled with violence, mother's milk, strange locals, and ultimately the disappearance of Ozaki's corpse which Minami now desperately tries to recover.

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Plot Keywords:

violence | yakuza | milk | dog | identity | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for aberrant sexual and violent content, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

official website [jp]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

14 July 2004 (France)

Also Known As:

Yakuza Horror Theater: Gozu

Filming Locations:

Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$5,030 (USA) (30 July 2004)

Gross:

$54,419 (USA) (1 October 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Klock Worx Co., Rakuei-sha

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min 130 min

Sound Mix:

DTS

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The store-owner's American wife knew no Japanese, and had to read her lines phonetically off cue cards posted above her head. She proved to be absolutely hopeless at anything resembling proper pronunciation or competent acting. Director Takashi Miike found the result interesting and expanded it into an eery "Breaking the Fourth Wall" moment.

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Quotes

Ozaki: Everything I'm about to tell you is a joke. Don't take it seriously.

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Connections

References Visitor Q (2001)

User Reviews

Very Strange....but in a good way

The synopsis on the DVD case compares it to something in the style of David Lynch. I would agree with that. It's definitely a surreal and strange movie. I would not rank it as high as Ichi the Killer or Audition , both of which I loved. This is Takishi Miike doing what he does best, trying to shock people but I think he's trying too hard with this movie at times to the point where it gets boring. The movie seems to loose itself in it's own strangeness at times but overall it's accomplishes what it's out to accomplish.

This movie is a nice piece of artistic filmaking and I must say that it actually made me much more uncomfortable then Ichi or Audition especially the last 30 mins or so.....watch it and you'll know what I mean.

Overall, if you are a Miike fan or a fan of David Lynch or that style of film-making then you'll appreciate this movie. If you have seen this and have not seen Ichi the Killer or Audition, do yourself a favor and go out and rent or buy those.