ICHI THE KILLER (2001)

TAKASHI MIIKE

PLOT SUMMARY:

"Ichi the Killer" is a Japanese film based off the 1993 manga of the same name. the film follows a man, Ichi (Nao Omori), who is clearly mentally disabled in some form, seemingly developmentally delayed as well as sexually fucking weird; a downright unhinged sadist. anyway, an older man known as Jijii (Shinya Tsukamoto) manipulates Ichi into killing off people within the yakuza by creating false memories where all of Jijii's targets bullied Ichi in school.

Jijii convinces Ichi to murder Anjo, the big boss guy. after that happens, the sadomasochistic evil ass bisexual enforcer, Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano), goes on a rampage to find who killed Anjo. as he searches for the killer, Ichi, he becomes very interested in the sheer level of violence that Ichi inflicts on his victims. Ichi keeps killing the members and finally makes his way to Kakihara, where they had a vaguely homoerotic battle on a rooftop and Kakihara FUCKING DIES.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY:

Ichi the Killer is honestly one of my favourite movies of all time, one of. i even bought it on blu-ray! i was introduced to the movie by this dude on tinder, which should have raised alarms, but i like to live a little sometimes. the only things i can thank that guy for was this beautiful movie.

even better, my boyfriend got me to read the manga. if i'm being honest, i had never read a manga before at that time, so it was all new to me. figuring out how to read manga and remembering to read it the right way was a struggle that was worth it. the film stayed very true to the manga for the most part, but there was one thing that was really funny to me... and that was that you could tell that Takashi Miike probably had Kakihara headcanons and applied them all to the film. fair enough honestly, movie Kakihara was fine as fuck.

two of my favourite things about the film were 1. the fashion, and 2. the characters. as for fashion, Karen (Paulyn Sun) has some of the best style in the movie; she's so painfully underrated!! maybe i have bias because i do kinda dress like her, but i still stand by what i said.

fashion aside, i love the psychology behind Ichi and Kakihara. they're both characters i can relate to and understand. for me, inflicting pain is just as amazing as feeling pain, in their own different ways that is. with Ichi, who is described as a pure sadist in the manga, i am not quite that. I do enjoy seeing others in pain and i do like hurting others, but unlike Ichi i don't feel sexual pleasure from it. i just feel joy, plain and simple.

as for Kakihara, i relate to his masochism. it is something that i live for, something i thrive off of. pain is my everything, so much so that it has ruined me sexually. i cannot feel aroused without pain. i want to be hit until my whole body stings, insulted in ways that would make others sob. i want to feel sore, i want to ache, i want agony, i need to feel like my life is on the line.

P.S, btw boyfriend, you're MILES hotter than Kakihara!!