
Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Prolific director Takashi Miike (AUDITION) keeps finding new ways to test the boundaries of on-screen violence ICHI THE KILLER is a masterful piece of filmmaking simultaneously funny & horrific but it&s only for viewers with strong stomachs One character Kakihara (Japanese indie film heartthrob Tadanobu Asano) a masochistic yakuza lieutenant has slits in his cheeks through which he blows cigarette smoke & gleefully hacks off his own tongue to apologize for his impudence Then there&s eponymous assassin (Nao Omori) a painfully shy but sadistic young voyeur who wears a leather superhero outfit to work Manipulated by the cagey & mysterious Jijii (English translation & Gramps& Shinya Tsukamoto) Ichi lashes out & massacres those Jijii deems bullies & basically anyone else who upsets his frail psyche Jijii uses the demented lad to start a bloody war between rival yakuza factions Miike&s film is full of grotesquely over-the-top violent set pieces including flying entrails graphic mutilations & even a severed human face splattered against a wall & slowly sliding to the ground It&s all captured with kinetic camerawork & hyperactive editing It&s not for everyone but bolder viewers will find it uniquely entertaining