If viewed for more than a few cycles, the animated menu screen on the DVD of Ichi the Killer could cause permanent mind damage. It features more gore than the average horror movie. Several clips of sickening violence lead into a close up shot of a man’s head being split in half down the middle then a fade to black, the music stops, there is a pause, and then the whole thing loops. Suffice to say you won’t be seeing such footage used to demonstrate the awesome resolution of a plasma screen in your local Dixons.

Whilst there is more to Ichi the Killer than gore, most of the films meaning is conveyed through the character’s reactions to, attitudes towards and ultimately predilections for violence. The two main characters, Ichi and Kakihara are polar opposites (the UK release was billed as “the ultimate sadist versus the ultimate masochist”) whilst Ichi generally wails and sobs, distraught before killing, Kakihara revels in both inflicting and receiving pain. Miike ensures that every last drop of dark ironic humour is wrung from such juxtapositions. Clad in a ridiculous, rubberised power rangers-esque outfit, Ichi spies on a local pimp as Sailor, a prostitute to whom Ichi is attracted, is severely beaten. The pimp hears a rustle and discovers Ichi who promptly begins to cry, apologise and plead only to dispatch the pimp in a singularly spectacular fashion after the pimp demands that Ichi stop crying, Ichi’s response: “I’m not!” After which Ichi consoles the girl with the chilling line “I’ve killed him for you, he’s not going to beat you anymore, but don’t worry, I can do it for you.”

This line encapsulates Ichi, he is a boy stuck in a man’s body, traumatised as a youngster after witnessing the violent gang rape of a teacher. Ichi is tormented by memories of the opposing instincts he felt during that event and this confusion is capitalised on by the mysterious and controlling JiJi (played by Tetsuo director Shinya Tsukamoto). JiJi is Ichi’s ‘handler’, he sends Ichi photographs of ‘bullies’ who need to be ‘taught a lesson’ . It is JiJi who has the motive for having Ichi kill boss Anjo and JiJi who will gain from the deaths of the many Yakuza that he has Ichi assassinate (the scene in which JiJi reveals his secret is astonishing).

Kakihara is the Yakuza who capitalises on Boss Anjo’s killing in order that he might indulge in as much gratuitous violence as possible. Kakihara is not a man predisposed to using hot oil to fry fish, no, he’s a bit more imaginative than that. When confronted by his gangster peers over his decision to kidnap and torture a rival Yakuza he suspects may have had a hand in Anjo’s disappearance he comes up a with a novel apology which makes answering his phone immediately afterwards a little bit difficult. He spends the film crazed with excitement that he might come face to face with Ichi, the man whom may be able to inflict the true pain that Kakihara so desires to feel. The film builds to the inevitable confrontation between these two characters and when they meet, the results are surprising but to give you an indication, in the moment before Kakihara meets his maker he cries, “Wow, this is great.”

The plot complicates as the characters become involved with one and other and Ichi becomes reluctant to kill. JiJi manipulates Kakihara’s jilted (she could not inflict true pain) girlfriend into pretending to be the raped teacher Ichi obsesses over and their meeting results in Ichi having a revelation, “You didn’t want to be raped because you wanted to be raped. You didn’t want it to happen because you wanted it to happen!” This scene makes for uncomfortable viewing, but it is the one in which Miike comments directly on the sexual nature of violence and therefore marks out the film as unique in an industry where violence is sanitised, de-sexualised and is often used purely to mark out the difference between a hero and a villain whilst a character’s deeper motivations are left ignored (when Steven Segal brutally beats a group of men with a pool ball loaded sock it is because they are bad and he is good, o.k?). It is the exploration of the sexual urges that drive Ichi and other characters in this movie to violence that makes it such compelling viewing.

Ichi the killer is a film that benefits from top notch performances from the whole cast, a satisfyingly complex script and flawless direction. It is the PS3 game of modern cinema, genuinely next generation. A film that could have been constricted by it’s gangster movie roots and overreaching in it’s ambition is tempered by Miikes unflinching dedication to an aesthetic. The only flaw is that it is not Ben Affleck’s head being split in two... or Michael Douglas’... or Shane Richie’s...

Rating: 9/10

Review By Matt Compton