One neat thing about Netflix is that it's allowing me to catch up with cult auteur Japanese directors. Last time, it was Miike, this time it was Beat Kitano's OUTRAGE.
SPOILERS.
This gangster film keeps introducing us to a vast cast of characters, high and low in the Yakuza. Doesn't matter if you keep track. One by one, they are offed, in very violent ways. It just keeps happening, new characters are introduced, while old characters find themselves in a dangerous situations.
Just when you think maybe they'll escape, they'll be murdered or mangled in a creative spurt of mayhem.
It's a veritable Bach fugue of violence, a metronomic ticking off of character after character. There is a kind of horrid dry humor in the way it just keeps happening. The fascination is in how and when the violence will erupt.
There is immense expertise in the way the characters are introduced, the situation escalates, and the technical precision of each scene. You get to know the characters just enough to realize they all deserve what happens to them and yet still be horrified by it. It's as if it was a Dirty Harry movie directed by Antonioni -- a beautiful constructed but cold piece of work.
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1 comment:
Sounds terrific. I put it in my Netflix queue, can't wait to watch it.
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