Gozu: Difference between revisions

 

Starting ostensibly as yet another [[Yakuza]] movie, it takes a major turn into the surreal very soon into the story. Yakuza junior member Minami is ordered by the head of the gang to take his increasingly erratic and unstable senior member Ozaki out to a remote location, where he can be disposed of by an allied "cleaner". On the way, Ozaki dies mysteriously; and the story takes a turn for the [[Surreal Horror|decidedly surreal]], when Ozaki's body disappears in a nearly-deserted, run-down suburb of Nagoya. Nothing appears to make much sense after that, either to the viewer or the protagonist. Minami endures a number of episodic, and confusing, adventures, and meets a cast of highly deranged characters -- including a middle-aged woman who bottles and sells her breast milk; a huge, minotaur-like being wearing baggy underwear; several crossdressers who run the town's cafe; an unreliable guide with an odd skin condition; and a beautiful, enigmatic woman who claims to be his brother Ozaki.

 

'''Warning:''' Due to the nature of the story, the list below may contain '''spoilers'''.

* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Several of the Nagoya denizens, particularly the guide.

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Although solid for most of the movie, the fourth wall is broken briefly in one of the very rare examples (possibly the only one) where the break is both comedic and oddly disturbing.

* [[Gorn]]: Surprisingly little for a Miike film; but there are a few moments.

* [[Improv]]: Some of the key scenes were improvised, as was a great deal of dialog.

* [[Jumping the Gender Barrier]]: Sort of, used symbolically.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Gangster Ozaki, in the "Yakuza attack dog" scene at the beginning of the movie. Well, not so much kick the dog, as pick it up by its leash and bash it to a bloody pulp on the nearest wall. Both figuratively and ''literally''. The moment where Ozaki clearly goes from annoyingly unstable, to dangerously insane.

[[Category:Takashi Miike]]

[[Category:Gozu]]