Gozu (Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu) poster & wallpaper
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Hideki Sone, Sho Aikawa, Kimika Yoshino, Shohei Hino, Keiko Tomita ... see more see more... , Harumi Sone , Ryo Ishibashi

At a yakuza gathering, Ozaki (Shô Aikawa of the Dead or Alive films) unsettles the boss (Renji Ishibashi) when he claims a small dog outside the restaurant is a "yakuza attack dog" and viciously smash... read more read more...es it to death. Minami (Hideki Sone) is assigned to drive the apparently unstable Ozaki to a remote location and kill him. Minami considers Ozaki a "brother," and feels ambivalent about this assignment. After several odd incidents on the road, Minami ends up in the small town of Nagoya, where things get even odder. Unable to get a signal on his cellular, Minami goes into a restaurant to use the phone, and Ozaki, whom he thought to be unconscious, promptly vanishes. When Minami finally contacts the boss, he's told to get in touch with the local Shiroyama crew. Minami doesn't know his way around, and the weird locals seem more interested in animated, interminable arguments about the weather than in helping him find his way. Eventually he runs into Nose (Shôhei Hino), who seems relatively sane, and offers to help him find Ozaki. Minami spends the night at an inn, where the innkeeper (Keiko Tomita) possesses a strange lactating power (which she's eager to demonstrate), and mistreats her mentally challenged employee (Harumi Sone). After another frustrating day searching for Ozaki, during which he encounters the decrepit Shiroyama crew, Minami finds a note from his "brother," and travels to the town dump to meet him, only to find Ozaki (now played by Kimika Yoshino) in a transformed state. Gozu was directed by the prolific Takashi Miike from a script by Sakichi Satô, who also wrote the script for Miike's Ichi the Killer. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Flixster Users

80% liked it

8,110 ratings

Critics

72% liked it

53 critics

R, 2 hr. 9 min.

Directed by: Takashi Miike

Release Date: May 17, 2003

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DVD Release Date: November 23, 2004

Stats: 740 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (740)

  • JonathanHutchings
    January 21, 2012
    JonathanHutchings
    Watching Gozu reminded me a lot of Eraserhead in that both films nearly abandon plot all together to make way for their respective bizarre scenes and surrealistic atmosphere. But this isn't classical Dali or Bunuel type surrealism, which focused a lot on style and subverting conv... read moreentions, this is more of the Jorodowsky variety: start with a blank canvas, disregard narrative logic all together, and let your imagination run wild. Gozu may be the most peculiar and surreal film in Miike's canon. If you know anything about his work, that's saying quite a bit.
  • ariuza1
    January 24, 2011
    ariuza1
    Takashi Miike is a very strange man - I think there's sufficient evidence of that fact that I need not justify it further. So if I tell you that GOZU is probably Miike's weirdest film to date, you will know that we are talking some world-class oddity. Billed as a "Yakuza Horror" ... read morefilm, which is a label that just about fits if you consider that Japanese horror films have always shown a very different sensibility than Hollywood films (Japanese horror is generally of a quite intangible nature, about the horror of the unknown and the incomprehensible - not so much about the big scary monsters). GOZU is interesting in that the "horror" of it comes almost entirely from the way it is filmed - the camera work, the editing and the sound effects all come together to create a sense of foreboding and fear that for the most part is not at all born out by the actual events in the film. Miike is probably making the point that most horror films are just exercises in film-making technique these days, rather than presenting truly frightening content. Or perhaps he just fancied a way to make his latest Yakuza film a little bit different :)

    Miike is definitely one of the most creative film-makers working in the world today - quite possibly *the* most, given his insanely prolific output and the fact that almost every film he makes manages to be unique and memorable. Doing that with one film a year would be an impressive feat, and Miike gives us at least 3-4 such films every year. GOZU shows him on fine creative form once more, turning a story that probably isn't all that interesting into a surreal, dreamlike experience. The plot itself is very minimal, and largely irrelevant for most of the 125 minute running time. Basically, a Yakuza is told to take his yakuza-brother (Sho Aikawa) to an out of the way part of Japan and get rid of him, as he been showing signs of going a bit loopy. However, before he can carry out his orders, Aikawa disappears - and most of the rest of the film is concerned with Minami's efforts to find him. But that description really sells short the content of the film, which is really about the strange characters he encounters and the even stranger experiences that he has.

    Going into more detail about what happens wouldn't add a lot to this review, so I won't. Just be prepared to "go with the flow" and see what the film has to offer, rather than expecting anything specific from it. Don't expect a nice neat resolution at the end, either, 'cause you'll definitely be disappointed. Miike's films are often films that need to be seen in just the right mood to be enjoyed, and I'm glad I made the decision that my mood wasn't right when I started watching GOZU 6 months ago. The film sat there waiting for me until this weekend, when I figured the time was as good as it was going to get, and it paid off in spades :)

    Miike's films often suffer on repeat viewings, and I am pretty sure this will be true of GOZU - at over 2 hours it is definitely too long, and there are sure to be scenes that are a bit of a chore to sit through when you know what's coming. I couldn't say which scenes they are from a first viewing though, so there's nothing that's truly redundant in there, and I hope that the US distributors that recently acquired the film will remember that their viewers would rather make the decision themselves about any scenes that weren't needed. i.e. uncut, please!
  • 366weirdmovies
    May 2, 2010
    366weirdmovies
    A conflicted yakuza is ordered by his superiors to dispose of his immediate boss, who's gone insane, but when the body disappears in a strange town outside Nagoya it becomes unclear who's actually the crazy one. One of the better efforts from Miike's weird and perverted phase; c... read morealling it the Japanese ERASERHEAD may be going a little far, but it's in the ballpark.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    April 18, 2009
    DragonEyeMorrison
    Miike shows how skillfull and inventive he can be with Gozu, a bizarre hybrid of horror and yakuza flicks. This is not a "japanese lynch flick" it's a very unique beast that deserves it's own adjectives.
  • arashxak
    April 13, 2009
    arashxak
    A nightmarish joke? or a parody of Lynch-ish movies? , Well not as great as Lynch's multi-layered nightmares but still pretty interesting
  • Saxia
    August 24, 2008
    Saxia
    One of the strangest movies I've ever seen, a bit slow sometimes. I liked the dialogue -pretty weird- it requires a special taste haha. It's pretty sick too.
  • Stinger839
    August 15, 2008
    Stinger839
    Builds to a great ending. a bit too obsessed with lactation. This is best described as a surrealistic thriller. As usual, Miike makes a list of extreme activities and mashes them together to make grotesquefest. Not as nasty as Visitor Q. Too slowly paced, but some full characters... read more and obviously fantastic visuals.

    "So Fucked Up" highlight
    the conclusion, and the way in which "Soup Ladle Yakuza Boss" dies
  • DrBenway
    March 14, 2008
    DrBenway
    A yakuza, Ozaki, exterminates a chihuahua, convinced that animals are part of a conspiracy to assassinate his boss. His paranoia mulitplies and becomes a threat for the organization. His boss orders his execution and gives the chore to Ozaki's right hand man.

    THEN the weird ... read morestuff begins.

    For those of you that are familiar with Miike, don't worry, there are scenes that rival some of his most odd work and can make viewers uncomfortable at times. While that may not seem like anything new, I believe this is one of the strangest films I've ever seen.

    If you're looking for shock value, you may be disappointed with the slower pace of this movie. If you're looking for a story that hands you a puzzle and asks you to put the pieces together yourself, then check this out. I definitely recommend you watch this more than once, just in case you miss anything.

    gozu
  • 76Majikat
    September 1, 2007
    76Majikat
    Probably the most bizarre film I've ever watched, I had to read the dvd cover to make sense of it all after. With my new found faith in Takashi Miike, I'm gonna put this down to me misunderstanding this, definitely needs further viewings.

    VERDICT: Confused!
  • newvogueravyn
    April 15, 2007
    newvogueravyn
    I never got to finish watching this, but if I do the rating may change.

View All Gozu (Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Colin Covert
September 23, 2004
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Plays like the rantings of a madman, but a pretty entertaining madman. Full Review

G. Allen Johnson
September 17, 2004
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

For Miike freaks only (and you know who you are). Everyone else: Stay far, far away. Full Review

Jay Boyar
September 10, 2004
Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel

There is something compelling about the way this film sneakily taps into our collective psychosexual fantasies. Full Review

Michael O'Sullivan
September 10, 2004
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

Makes little sense on paper. As a film, however, it somehow feels richly, hilariously real, even -- at its most bizarre -- familiar. Full Review

Stephen Hunter
September 10, 2004
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

I don't think this is quite the film with which to begin a Miike investigation. Full Review

Ty Burr
August 13, 2004
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Not your average midnight movie but something more hermetic. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
August 12, 2004
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Miike is sometimes ill-served by his scripts, but here screenwriter Sakichi Sato never flags, coming up with one gloriously grotesque incident after another. Full Review

Lisa Rose
August 5, 2004
Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger

The hallucinatory shock opera builds to a climax that will widen even the most jaded eyes. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
August 5, 2004
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

There isn't much that Miike won't throw into his nightmare mix, yet the movie is almost prankish in its slack indulgence. Full Review

V.A. Musetto
July 30, 2004
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

Miike is at the top of his game, loving every minute of his surreal visit to the twilight zone.

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