Story: Minami (Hideki Sone) is climbing the ranks of organized crime, but his latest assignment isn’t one he looks forward at all, even if it is a crucial mission. His older brother Ozaki (Sho Aikawa) is a yakuza enforcer, but as he has gotten older, his mind has started to slip at bad times. Now a risk to his bosses, Ozaki is marked to be taken out in order to protect the organization and Minami has a role to play in that process. He has been tasked to take his brother to a location where the assassination is to take place, an area where the hit can happen with no chance of blowback on the bosses. But when Ozaki vanishes and strange things begin to happen, can Minami figure out how to survive and figure out what the hell is going on?

Entertainment Value: Between the off kilter yakuza elements and the jaw dropping weirdness, you can tell Gozu is a Takashi Miike film and of course, that’s meant as a true compliment. The narrative starts off by teasing that this might be a kind of serious crime picture, but soon veers wildly and becomes more about experiences, though the core story does remain in place. How that core story gets from the start to the finish however, is certainly not an expected path, to say the least. That doesn’t mean wall to wall wackiness or insane moments, but there is a weirdness here even in the more routine sequences. So even when the pace slows a bit, the film is never dull at all and entertains throughout. There’s some light sleaze, some violence, some lactation, and of course, an off the rails finale where Miike’s vision really shines. The final act is one for the ages and even if you’re braced for Miike’s kind of madness, there are some wild surprises in store. I had an absolute blast with Gozu and for fans of creative, artistic cinema, this one is highly recommended.

This movie is filled with colorful characters and our lead is certainly one, with Hideki Sone handling the center role with skill and good presence. I love his reactions to the madness around him, but he also handle the more straight forward scenes well. His performance really shines when he is able to interact with the film’s more outlandish characters, which thankfully, are numerous here. Some of these sequences are awkward and quite humorous to watch, such as the bathhouse scene, while other times, Sone is able to dial up his weirdness to match energies with his fellow cast members. In either case, I think those are his best moments in Gozu and I appreciated how well he was able to get the best from his costars. The cast also includes Sho Aikawa, Ken’ichi Endo, and Renji Ishibashi.

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