A prostitute plunges to her death clutching a bag of drugs, a furtive men's
room tryst climaxes in a geyser of blood, an after-dinner shotgun blast
graphically puts a new spin on bulimia, a stripper writhes, a mysterious
knife-thrower takes aim and a gangster snorts a line of white powder stretching
to infinity...and that's merely the first ten minutes. From Takashi Miike (Audition,
Ichi the Killer), 'one of the most exciting, versatile directors
working today' (The New York Post), comes a film of such
kaleidoscopic mayhem and frenzied violence that it defies hyperbole. Burlesquing
and surpassing every other full-bore, double-barreled Asian crime thriller, Dead
or Alive conjures up a harrowing urban fever-dream where 'the images
are so astonishing, you'll feel you inhaled them.' (The San Francisco
Chronicle).
In Tokyo's crime-ridden Shinjuku district, emotionally and financially
bankrupt Detective Jojima (Show Aikawa) plays referee in a gangland turf war
pitting the Japanese Yakuza (Mafia) against a bloodthirsty band of
Chinese immigrant gangsters. But Jojima's obligation to his terminally ill
daughter and ruthless Chinese mobster Ryuichi's (Riki Takeuchi) sentimental
devotion to his erzatz family of misfit assassins threatens to add their own
corpses to the landslide of fresh bodies littering Tokyo. Miike depicts Dead
or Alive's gruesome acts of excess and debasement with shockingly graphic
relish, allowing his vision to escalate beyond even a cartoonish level of
audacity.
- NTSC Region 1
- English Subtitles
- Anamorphic Widescreen
- Interview with director Takashi Miike
- Two Trailers
- Gallery
Screened at the 2001 Philadelphia Film Festival |
