5 Out of More Than 100: TOP 5 Takashi Miike films

Greatest hits to get to know the madcap and hyper-stimulating world of Takashi Miike 

Audition 

Quite possibly the film that best encapsulates the virtues of Takashi Miike's filmmaking. A key entry in the J-Horror canon, this portrayal of Eihi Shiina’s tortuous life journey could be seen today as the chillingly prophetic (and lucid, within the madness in which it unfolds) testimony of a historical moment when the precarious balances of power between men and women are on the verge of being blown to pieces. 

Ichi the Killer 

A key film to understand, first of all, how Takashi Miike is truly in a class of his own when it comes to working on the transition from manga (in this case, based on material by Hideo Yamamoto) to live-action feature film. And second, to immerse ourselves in the bloodbath of one of the spectacles that best conveys the impact of early 21st-century cinematic ultra-violence. 

Visitor Q 

Pure discomfort made into a film. Dysfunction as an aberrant energy that makes us tick. Not a single one of the situations it gives us access to is exactly pleasant… and even so, it’s impossible to stop revisiting it. An uncompromising exploration of the violent and sexual impulses that lurk in every home; in a society where its inflexibility in both forms and relationships is the perverse vestige of the work of a parasite that has surely infected us as well. 

13 Assassins 

Nearly half a century after the original film directed by Eiichi Kudo, Takashi Miike joins the remake frenzy, taking the opportunity to showcase himself as one of the most versatile directors on the world stage. Meticulous when it comes to respecting the liturgies of the chanbara genre; bold in his daring use of CGI… masterful in his planning and delivery of a final climax with a sustained, adrenaline-fueled crescendo that makes this piece an unmissable action movie classic, whether traditional or modern. 

First Love 

After practically three decades in the business, it’s still possible to fall in love with Takashi Miike for the first time… and, in the process, to be swept away by the irresistible force of a filmmaking style that revels in collision; with bodies slamming into each other, and, in the same spirit, with genres colliding as well. At the time of the release of this blend of thriller and romantic drama, the person directing it is 59 years old, but his vital signs are worthy of the raging youth of his zany protagonists.