Ichi the Killer

Original title: Koroshiya 1

2001
2h 9m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

61K

YOUR RATING

Tadanobu Asano in Ichi the Killer (2001)

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1 Video

77 Photos

Dark Comedy Action Crime Drama

As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has o... Read allAs sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

61K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 6 wins & 4 nominations

Karen
(as Alien Sun)

Susumu Terajima

Suzuki
(as Sabu)

Shun Sugata

Takayama

Tôru Tezuka

Fujiwara

Yoshiki Arizono

Nakazawa

Kiyohiko Shibukawa

Ryu Long
(as Kee)

Satoshi Niizuma

Inoue

Suzuki Matsuo

Jirô…

Jun Kunimura

Funaki

Sabu

Kaneko
(as Hiroyuki Tanaka)

Moro Morooka

Coffee Shop Manager

Hôka Kinoshita

Sailor's Lover

Hiroshi Kobayashi

Takeshi

Mai Gotô

Sailor
(as Mai Goto)

Rio Aoki

Miyuki

Director
- Takashi Miike
Writers
- Sakichi Sato
- Hideo Yamamoto
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
(at around 18 mins) For the sequence based on the part in the manga during chapters 13-16 of volume 2, where a naked Susuki of the Funakigumi is tortured by being suspended from meat-hooks. Susuki's actor Susumu Terajima required twelve hours of makeup and other preparation, and then spent twelve more hours shooting the scene.

Goofs
(at around 1h 30 mins) When Kakihara is attacked in the streets, protective padding is visible under his clothing. Look for it when he bends over backwards without falling over, before he removes his piercings.

Quotes
Kakihara: Damn... Nobody left to kill me.

Crazy credits
End credits scroll up, down, left, right, forwards and backwards.

Alternate versions
The French DVD is the full uncut version

Connections
Featured in The Cult of Ichi (2007)

User reviews331

Review

Featured review

8/10

Bloody as hell, Gory and swell.. In short... a masterpiece

This has to be one of my greatest experiences in the Asian cinema. I have been watching Asian movies since the eighties where I saw my first martial arts movies and I have been an Asian fan ever since.

They have a unique way of making movies and a boldness you don't see in western cinema. I have a few friends that share my sick fascination in the gory and shocking side of Asian movie making and Ichi the killer is the best in it's genre. I have seen a lot of Miike's movies which I won't mention here but Ichi is by far my favorite Miike movie.

Takashi Miike spits out movies faster than speeding bullets and some of his works are not even worth watching. But once in a while he hits the spot and delivers a masterpiece and Ichi is by all means a masterpiece. A lot of people only see the blood, torture, gore and humiliation of the human body in Miike's movies but mostly he has a hidden or at least partly foggy agenda.

Ichi is basically a film about a loyal yakusa henchman trying to find meaning in his life after his boss has been murdered and a murderer trying to find himself in a labyrinth of deception and lost memories. It is well played and very well made.Tadanobu Asano excels as Kakihara and Nao Omori is extremely good as the violent insane killer Ichi. The special effects has a realistic feel about them and you can almost feel the pain inflicted in this movie and there is plenty of pain to go around.

Ichi is not a film for people with weak nerves or a dislike for blood. Miike likes to shock his audience and is a master in this field. He delivers the meat for the gore hounds and has a weird sense of humor....

I give this little blood feast a 8.0