Gozu
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese
cult film
directed by Takashi Miike
.
but its positive reception at the Cannes Film Festival
in May 2003 secured its theatrical release overseas.
The film received mostly positive reviews from the New York Times, BBC
, Washington Post and internet sites Rotten Tomatoes
and IMDB, with most critics commenting on the deeply surreal and disjointed nature of the film.
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
directed by Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike
is a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...
.
Plot
Structurally, Gozu is a succession of bizarre scenes sandwiched between a storyline involving Minami’s search for his Yakuza brother Ozaki in a small town, that is reminiscent of the episodic quests in Greek Mythology.Cast
- Hideki Sone as Minami
- Show Aikawa as Ozaki
- Kimika YoshinoKimika Yoshinois a Japanese actress and gravure idol. She won the award for Best Newcomer at the 5th Japanese Professional Movie Awards for Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness.-Filmography:*Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness...
as Female Ozaki - Shohei Hino as Nose
- Keiko Tomita as Innkeeper
- Harumi Sone as Innkeeper's Brother
- Renji Ishibashi as Boss
Reception
Shot on a low budget, the movie was originally planned for release on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
but its positive reception at the Cannes Film Festival
2003 Cannes Film Festival
The 2003 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the American film Elephant by Gus Van Sant.-Jury:* Patrice Chéreau, President * Aishwarya Rai * Meg Ryan * Karin Viard...
in May 2003 secured its theatrical release overseas.
The film received mostly positive reviews from the New York Times, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, Washington Post and internet sites Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
and IMDB, with most critics commenting on the deeply surreal and disjointed nature of the film.
External links
- Gozu at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
- Anything But Banal; Takashi Miike on "Gozu" and His Ups and Downs at indiewire.com
- We talk to the cult Japanese director about his latest film to hit the States, Gozu. Miike interview at ign.com Gozu at the Japanese Movie Database