The New York Times by Dave Kehr
(Miike's) work is fun to look at but emotionally unengaging, perhaps because he can't summon enough belief in his pulp-fiction characters to make them come alive.
Japan · 2000
Rated R · 1h 42m
Director Takashi Miike
Starring Teah, Michelle Reis, Patricia Manterola, Mitsuhiro Oikawa
Genre Action, Crime, Drama
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Brazilian-Japanese gangster Mario rescues his Chinese girlfriend Kei as she's about to be deported from Japan. Desperate to escape, he hides in Tokyo's booming Japanese-Portuguese community and seeks passage from the country from a Russian mobster. To meet his price, they hold up a bigtime drug deal between the Chinese Mafia and the local Yakuza.
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The New York Times by Dave Kehr
(Miike's) work is fun to look at but emotionally unengaging, perhaps because he can't summon enough belief in his pulp-fiction characters to make them come alive.
The plot is muddy and quite beside the point. The almost meditative mood takes center stage.
The film is filled with Miike's brand of imaginatively staged violence and hints of fetish sexuality, but his sadism, which reaches its apotheosis in 2001's sickening "Ichii The Killer", is tempered by a sincere romanticism and a number of lovely touches.
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
There's enough atmosphere, mayhem and just plain energy to make the film a viable midnight movie.
Austin Chronicle by Marjorie Baumgarten
Miike's graphically violent Japanese actioners are not everyone's cup of sake. But if you can handle the bloodshed, Miike's films will open your eyes to the number of ways it can spurt, splat, and drizzle out of a whole variety of natural human orifices and man-made bullet holes.
While the film throws a solid pop punch, you could still swear you've seen it all before.
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