Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha (1999)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writer:

Ichiro Ryu (writer)

Release Date:

27 marraskuu 1999 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

WARNING: This motion picture contains explicit portrayals of violence; sex; violent sex; sexual violence; clowns and violent scenes of violent excess, which are definitely not suitable for all audiences.

Plot:

A yakuza of Chinese descent and a Japanese cop each wage their own war against the Japanese mafia. But they are destined to meet. Their encounter will change the world.

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Detective | Yakuza | Massacre | Taiwan

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Riki Takeuchi	...	Ryuuichi
Shô Aikawa	...	Det. Jojima
Renji Ishibashi	...	Aoki
Hitoshi Ozawa	...	Satake
Shingo Tsurumi	...	Chen
Kaoru Sugita	...	Mrs. Jojima
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dankan	...	Tanaka
Hirotaro Honda
Michisuke Kashiwaya	...	Toji
Mizuho Koga
Ryûshi Mizukami
Ren Ôsugi	...	Yan (as Ren Oosugi)
Tomorowo Taguchi
Susumu Terajima	...	Inoue
Hua Rong Weng
Kyôsuke Yabe
Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi

Also Known As:

D.O.A. (Japan) (short title)
Dead or Alive (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sexuality, language and drug use. (edited version)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Mandarin | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:R | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | France:-16 (with warning) | Germany:18 | Japan:R-15 | New Zealand:R18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (edited version) | USA:Unrated

Company:

Daiei Motion Picture Company

Quotes:

Psychotic Beggar: I choose you, Pikachu!
[the beggar proceeds to beat the crap out of the policemen]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Magical Time Traveling Thugtastic Jug (2004)

Wild Japanese action!

Takashi Miike's "Dead or Alive:Hanzaisha" left me speechless.The opening sequence is incredible in its style-we have strippers at work,several bloody shoot-outs,a gangster getting his throat slashed while sodomizing a young man in a public toilet etc.The finale is also amazing-I was literally blown away!The film is strangely amoral-check out especially the scene in which two punks making animal porn try feverishly to excite an Alsatian dog so it can mount naked girl in their presence.The film is not as violent and sadistic as the other Miike's works like "Visitor Q",but there are some really strong images that will surely linger in the memory.The acting is very good,the direction is well-handled and the film is hallucinogenic at times.All in all if you're fed up with predictable Hollywood's action trash check this one out!