Takashi Miike, known for being the most prolific filmmaker in the history of Japanese cinema, is present at this year’s Sitges Festival Internacional De Cinema De Catalunya to oversee the premiere of his new film 'Gozu' (or Gokudo Kyofu Daigeki Gozu) and to receive several awards including ‘Best Japanese Director’ at the event’s closing ceremony. A contemporary of Shinya Tsukamoto (director of the classic Tetsuo films 'Iron Man' 1989 and 'Body Hammer' 1991), he has shocked and amazed audiences with films such as 'The Audition' (1999) and 'Ichi the Killer' (2001), not to mention his incredible 'Dead or Alive' trilogy (1999-2002), all of which display his fresh and innovative approach towards filmmaking.
I find the director waiting in a small private office inside the festival’s press centre, accompanied by 2 translators and his personal aide, all of whom assist with translations for the next 25 minutes. When asked to give a hint about what people can expect from 'Gozu' (meaning ‘cowhead’) he says, “When you go to see a new movie, you are always very excited about what’s going to happen but in this case, I don’t want to say anything about the film. I want people not to know what will happen so they will be more surprised. Initially I was offered to make a film about the Yakuza but I wasn’t interested because I have done that kind of movie quite a lot. So I decided to do something more original with the Yakuza thing and I could do what I wanted to do. I put something different in the film. It has some crazy stuff!”
The film does indeed feature some bizarre and absurdly humorous moments, culminating in a climactic sequence that will simultaneously inspire shock and laughter in most living members of the audience. I ask him about what influenced him to make Gozu, and to begin producing films in 1991. He replies, “I have no specific influences such as directors or films, I am influenced by everything that happens in life. Life is more dramatic than anything that can happen in a movie.”
One characteristic of many films by Takashi Miike is that he rarely sticks to a traditional narrative style, preferring instead to present his stories in a less structured, non-linear style. When commenting on his reputation for being a creative and nonconformist director, he says, “I like to work in total freedom but that doesn’t mean that I’ll be constantly changing everything. Sometimes I change things during production so I have to begin with some kind of narrative structure, which will change as I get ideas. This doesn’t mean everything changes but some things will. The thing with a low budget is that it allows greater freedom, for example maybe I can change one sentence at the end of a particular sentence or the whole movie. It gives more license to experiment than with a bigger budget.”
Regarding his unorthodox use of 16mm in some of his films, he says, “My career started as an assistant director in the T.V. industry so in that time I was using 16mm. These days I use 35mm or digital formats. However, I still feel more comfortable with 16mm because it’s what I started with and so I like to use it on occasion to change the feel of a scene”.
In considering his unconventional yet artistic approach to making cinema, I then ask him what his response is to critics who attack what they deem to be ‘gratuitous violence’ in films. He laughs gleefully before responding, “I believe that I make movies that mix action, humour, love stories and other genres. However, when I use violence, critics always focus on these parts, because they enjoy it. They love the violence really!”
He goes on to discuss another film released by him this year, 'Chakushin Ari' (One Missed Call). The production represents a departure from his usual subject matter and sees him offering a new perspective on the supernatural, a theme proving to be very popular in contemporary Japanese filmmaking. He says, “At present there are a lot of Japanese movies about ghost stories which are becoming popular on an international level. This film takes the ghost story format in a different direction. A ghost is always challenging the main female protagonist but at the last they have a meeting point. Therefore it offers a difference to other movies of this type as the two come together.”
Finally, his plans for the future include shooting a film in London sometime in 2004 and he concludes, “It is not enough to make a good film, I need to enjoy making the film. So in the future I will continue to enjoy making movies.”
