Dead or Alive (1999)

The first ten minutes of Dead or Alive will leave you agog, and the last ten will rearrange your head. Originally written as separate scenes designed to set up the film, Miike -- in an act of sheer cinematic bravura -- collapses them together into a hallucinogenic music video of sorts inventing a new way of storytelling that masterfully sets up the film's perverse, unhinged world. In fact, the viewer gets the distinct feeling that one is watching a trailer to the film; there simply couldn't be more to the film than what is in this opening. But there is a lot more. The less said about the film's ending the better, but it left more than one viewer confused. The film's middle, lacking the flash of the beginning and end might seem to drag a bit in comparison, but Miike populates the film with lurid details that keep it interesting. In one scene, Jojima, looking for clues, is talking to one of his underworld connections, who is busily trying to sexually excite a dog for a bestiality photo shoot. In another, Jojima grills a thug sporting a ludicrously large afro. As Miike gleefully undercuts taboos of polite society, a second theme rises to the fore -- the discrimination of non-Japanese Asians living in Japan. At one point, the afro-ed thug argues that Ryuichi is a hero among all non-Japanese working in the underworld because he's willing to take all the societal alienation and estrangement and force it down the throats of the Japanese yakuza. Aside from the dizzying, genre-bending cinematic exploits, the film's sharp and intelligent dissecting of Japanese society makes Dead or Alive a truly fascinating, memorable film. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide