4 out of 5

Director: Takashi Miike

While Fudoh often gets tossed onto the intro-to-Miike course thanks to its oddities and excesses, Fudoh serves as an introduction more into Miikes fantastic ability to smooth themes together than his over-the-top sesnsibilities of Ichi, Audition, etc. And Im not criticizing those who are just starting to get into Miike – its how I was introduced to this film, and because of that, I didnt like it at first. We get a typical yakuza/Miike-yakuza opening which showcases some wacky bullet-flying bloody-action… but UNLIKE many yakuza films, this scene actuakky resonates because it matters, acting as a springboard for, eventually, young high-school-age Riki Fudoh to attempt to overtake his fathers clan and firm up the ranks of his kid army. And so that could be the description of the film: Riki taking out the old generation of yakuza one by one, getting a wacky assassin thrown his way who starts taking out teammates, etc. etc. So my first viewing was that: here is plot, and here are some weird characters. And I knew it was weird, but not much else. Further viewing show the strength of the characters, and the themes of separation and family and the past that Miike loves, which give surrealistic credence to even the hermaphrodite scene. While its not as juicy as what would come either thematically or visually, Fudoh is still an early example of how excellently Miike can turn an action film on its head and pepper it with his own desires and ideas and the confidence he had in his vision.