Gokudô kuroshakai

Rainy Dog is one of four movies that Takashi Miike shot in 1997, and is the second part of his "Shinjuku Triad Society" trilogy. I am not sure what connection it has to parts 1 & 3 - being set in Shinjuku certainly isn't one of them though, as it is set and filmed in Taipei, Taiwan. It also works perfectly well as a stand alone movie.

Rainy Dog is a movie about a yakuza who has ended up in Taipei, apparently on the run from some gang or other. He works as a hitman for a local boss and tries to stay out of the rain. Apparently it rains a *lot* in Taipei. He forms the beginnings of a family when a woman he slept with many years ago turns up and announces that the mute kid she dumps on him is his.

Rainy Dog is quite an unusual movie for Takashi Miike, being almost totally free of the extreme, unusual and shocking elements for which his work is known. The movie is played pretty much straight, just focussing on old fashioned elements like characters, script, cinematography and symbolism. Not a lot of dialogue (Yuuji barely speaks more than his kid), but when people do speak it is quite thoughtful and insightful.

Rainy Dog is one of Takashi Miike's most technically accomplished films. The cinematography and soundtrack are excellent and editing superb. Despite the fact that most of the cast is speaking Mandarin, which I doubt Miike speaks, he is able to elicit excellent performances from everybody.

Rainy Dog is an artful kind of gangster movie, gently paced and philosophical. It's the closest Miike has come to making a Takeshi Kitano movie (it even has the requisite scene at the sea). It doesn't have anything that really leaps out and grabs the viewer by the balls like other movies such as Dead Or Alive, Visitor Q, Happiness Of The Katakuris or Full Metal Gokudo, but it's probably one of his most well balanced films.

Recommended!

Director Takeshi Miike takes a break from his usual trademark ultra-violent comic book style action to bring us this slow paced, yet interesting drama, portraying an ex-Yakuza hit-man exiled to Taiwan for reasons unknown. The rain throughout the movie not only sets the mood but also symbolises the monotony of normal, everyday life felt by the protagonist as a contrast to his previous life as a Yakuza. Coming to terms with his new life, he does small time hits for a local gang and manages to maintain some stability and a sense of purpose in the otherwise meaningless existence of a hit-man. However, his world is turned upside down when a woman he doesn't remember leaves him with a child who is supposedly his. As he goes about his business of contract kills, his newly acquired 'son' follows him with fascination, observing and mentally clinging onto his alleged father in a cold, lonely and rainy city. Things get even more twisted when he befriends a prostitute and here starts the mingling of this unlikely trio, a subtle touch, typical of the twisted world of Miike. Overall, a heart warming yet poignant drama depicting the harshness of life, comparable to Luc Besson's Leon or Takeshi Kitano's Kikujiro no natsu.

Yuji lives as a hit-man. One rainy night a girl he screwed awhile back bursts into his apartment tells him the kid she brought with her is his then leaves as quickly as she came. the second film in the loosely grouped together "Black Society Trilogy". "Rainy Dog" is a notable improvement on the first film "Shijuku Triad Society". While it was much slower and more introspective, it had a certain poetry to it that made it highly watchable. More akin to Miike's "Blues Harp" or "Graveyard of Honor" than his manic DOA films. And this one is better played straight.

My Grade: B+

DVD Extras: An EXTREMELY informative Commentary by Tom Mes (the guy really knows his stuff); 2 interviews with Takashi Miike; Yasushi Shimamura interview; Artwork; Bio/Filmograhies; and 2 theatrical Trailers

The story centres on a failed yakuza that has been exiled to Taiwan and now provides a hit man service for local gang leaders. The backdrop is a rainy Taipei which throughout the film is hated by all of the main characters and is seemingly impossible to escape from (Interesting from a Japanese film maker). The hit man, Yuuji, (Sho Aikawa) has his life turned upside down by the arrival of his supposed son who is cast off by his mother, a woman Yuuji doesn't remember in any detail. Eventually paired up with a prostitute he meets along the way they are offered an escape from the lives they appear to hate. The story is brilliantly told both through a cinematography and script. The locations and indeed the weather play an important role in setting a mood and reflecting the troubled lives of the main characters. Yuuji and chen, Yuuji's son, (Played by Lianmei Chen) work together brilliantly. Chen is a mute but the thoughtful and pragmatic performance by Lianmei Chen means this does not hinder the empathy you can feel for the character. Sho Aikawa, although he has most of the screen time and very little script, plays Yuuji to perfection. This film is another example of why Miike is well respected as a film maker. The usual blood and revenge storyline is there, but with a plot that you need to see played out in full and characters who you care for throughout. It is an excellent example of how a film should be made to incorporate gripping drama into an ultra violent gangster movie. I would recommend anyone to watch Rainy Dog, it may not be typical Mike but it is defiantly Miike Gold.

I've been a Miike fan for quite some time, and truly love his wild and crazy approach to film making. But this movie proves that he can also do serious films, and better than many serious directors. It is part 2 of his Triad society trilogy, and once again his themes of outsiders and innocence vs. violence is very obvious. The story is about a japanese hitman (beautifully down-played by Sho Aikawa) who has immigrated to taiwan. At the beginning a woman shows up at his doorstep and leaves a boy, whom she claims is his. The hitman doesn't really acknowledge the boy, and simply goes about his business (which mainly consists of killing people). But the boy follows him everywhere, and when the hitman later develops a sort of relationship with a prostitute, the three slowly grows closer, and become like a sort of family. The movie is very melancholic and has a tremendously moving atmosphere. It is completely rinsed of the usual Miike insanity and it actually works really well. It reminded me very much of Jarmusch, right down to the Neil Young-like slide guitar that makes up the soundtrack. If you've only seen his "crazy"-films you should really give this one a chance, since it really proves what an absolutely brilliant director this man is. "Rainy Dog" is with out doubt a masterpiece in modern cinema, and is even more impressive coming from the hands of the guy who brought us Ichi the Killer, Fudoh, Happiness of the Katakuris etc. etc. Takashi Miike continues to impress!

10/10