GOZU

SATURDAY 25 OCTOBER AT 9:20PM UGC SHAFTESBURY AVE SCREEN 1

Country Japan Running Time 129 mins Format 35mm Dir Takashi Miike Prods Harumi Sone, Kana Koido S'play Sakichi Sato DoP Kazunari Tanaka Cast Hideki Sone, Sho Aikawa, Kimika Yoshino, Shohei Hino Print Source Tartan Films E cbarwick@metro-tartan.co.uk

Minami is stuck between a rock and a hard place. A fledging yakuza, his direct superior Osaki has been acting strangely recently, much to the concern of the rest of the mob, one one occasion interrupting a meeting claiming that they are all about to be rubbed out by a chihuahua staring through the window. It's time for Osaki to go, and so Minami is assigned the task of killing him. Driving him cross-country to the outskirts of Nagoya to perform the execution, Osaki mysteriously vanishes into thin air. From then on, as the highly strung Minami goes in search of him, he is assailed by a parade of grotesque characters who may or may not be projections of his own neuroses.

After films such as Audition, Ichi The Killer and Visitor Q, you could be forgiven for thinking that there was little the prodigious Miike could do that still had the power to shock, stun or surprise. Though more slowly orchestrated than his previous works, Gozu is as visceral, aberrant and humorous as ever, with a finale that will have jaws dropping with disbelief. Once more, Japan's most internationally-fÕted director proves one step ahead of the game as, never one to be bound by cinematic convention, he takes the yakuza movie into the realms of Bu uel. JS

Since his debut Shinjuku Triad Society in 1995, Takashi Miike has directed around 50 features for release and for video. His output is diverse - from crime thrillers to the blackly comic musical, The Happiness of the Katakuris, that he brought to Raindance last year.