Koroshiya Ichi/Ichi The Killer

[Mark Nornes]

On Wednesday, January 23, 2002, at 09:01  PM, Aaron Gerow wrote:

> Miike,
> who wants to avoid the title artist (at least in international film
> festivals),

Surely false modesty! (A discussion of the director)

> very much fits the definition of auteur (especially in the
> original French version which looked at American B-movie and genre
> directors),

Absolutely. (And involves a discussion of the critics.)

> In fact, by making his
> own images violent, Miike is challenging us to understand the nature of
> the image in our world and how to approach it.

This is where I stumble. We're edging toward the reception context here. 
Perhaps Miike challenges us. But perhaps, too, he is also "carried 
away". Which is to say indulging in violence in ways that undercut any 
critical edge. The irony I see doesn't work, although it might if the 
violence itself were not so extreme. In other words, reading the critics 
and listening to Miike's presentation of himself and his work, I wonder 
if extremity is only a matter of degree and his violence is just as 
utopian and "clean" as the next blockbuster for the multiplexes. Forgive 
me if this is hypocritical!

Markus