Critics and film fans alike are wont to bandy the term auteur around, applying it to artists who don’t really deserve the accolade. Personally, I think Takashi Miike is one director who warrants the title. His idiosyncratic career, having taken in all manner of offbeat movies in a range of genres, shows us that, despite generally working from the scripts of others and also being something of a Journeyman in so far as he will tackle commercial projects, teen movies, mainstream horror and money spinning Yakuza yarns, Miike always turns the script in front of him into a Miike movie.

In Miike movies, Yakuzas are prone to being paranoid about small dogs to the point of violence and women give birth to fully grown men (both Gozu). Taboos are shattered, violence is extreme, often perverse and memorably unpleasant. Beautiful ingenues can be psychotic killers armed with foot removing cheesewire (Audition) and Zombies do song and dance numbers (Happiness of the Katakuris). I sometimes think that, unfairly, Western audiences come to his films looking for the shock, whether that be of the new or the repulsive, and forget about his skills as a storyteller and purveyor of onscreen action.

Many reviewers are rightly hailing Miike’s latest 13 Assassins as his most accessible and commercial venture to date. It’s certainly true that it’s a film you can put on for friends who maybe don’t share the same prediliction for Asian weirdness that you do without any nagging worries that a lactating middle aged women will pop up and starting flooding the kitchen (Visitor Q). The film is also a brilliant example, into it’s second half, of how to create a sustained action sequence that never lets up. Aside from those who stubbonly abstain from subtitles, anyone who enjoys cinematic escapism and sword based excitement will be in their oils here.

The problem is, the other side of the coin is the accusation that some kind of sell out has taken place. This is a nonsense. Miike has always tackled commercial projects, including family friendly fantasy movies, it’s just that 13 Assassins smoothes out the eccentricities and focuses on creating an exciting adventure film. There is one trademark shot towards the beginning that gives the director away to anyone with even a passing interest in Japanese movies, it’s almost a knowing wink to fans and I won’t give it away but it’s there (It reminded me a little of Imprint for any Miike fans on the look out). Aside from that, this is Takashi Miike as filmmaker with a tale to tell and he serves the story. Some old school fans will miss the wilder aspects of his catalogue but it also means other people will hear of an extraordinary director with a vast filmography to explore.

But wait a minute… This is Takashi Miike we’re talking about. Doubtless the pendulum will swing the other way and a new cross-dressing Yakuza Vampire musicial with Spaghetti Western overtones will be next. I hope so, but I also hope Miike gets more bigger budgets and continues to also create on a broader canvas.

AUTEUR THEORY EXPLAINED @WIKIPEDIA

