From Takashi Miike, director of "Audition" comes the

Films/DVD Asylum

Movies from comedy to drama to your favorite Hollyweird Star.

hauntingly beautiful gangster film noir, "Rainy Dog."
Filmed in Taiwan by an all-Taiwanese film crew, greatly limiting communication between it and the Japanese director, the film manages, perhaps because of this gulf, powerfully to convey a sense of alienation.
A middle-aged hit man, who must moonlight in a slaugherhouse to make ends meet, runs afoul of his new crime boss and also of the brother of his most recent victim who swears revenge. To further complicate, the protagonist has a former lover visit whom he barely remembers and she drops off a young boy. As she leaves, she tells him he is the father and she's done her part raising him for the first five years.
Added to this, as the hit man prowls the rainy streets of Taipei, he is stalked by a mysterious hit man from his native Japan perhaps sent to seek vengeance for the act which exiled him.
Miike is known for his brutal crime films but this one relatively is free from graphic violence; instead, he has crafted a quiet, almost existential portrayal of a man beset by seemingly insurmountable crises.
Echoes of "The Thief" and "A History of Violence" may be noticed but both seriously are inferior to this masterstroke.
After the first viewing, I had so many questions that I watched it again the next day: it was then the full genius of Miike became apparent and, also, the brilliant acting of Miike favorite, Sho Aikawa.
Highest recommendation.

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Topic - From Takashi Miike, director of "Audition" comes the - tinear 08:22:07 05/06/06 (0)

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