Director: Takashi
Miike
Notable Cast: Show
Aikawa, Tomorowo Taguchi, Gao Mingjun, Chen Xianmei, He Jianxian, Li Lijun,
Zhang Shi, Billy Ching Sau-yat, Doze Niu, Vicky Wei, Blackie Ko Shouliang,
Zhang Liwei
Takashi Miike is a diverse director. His iconic style might
include outsider characters defined by unique traits or his use of very intense
violence, but that doesn’t stop him from journeying into a slew of different
styles and genres. This even goes back as far as his early career. Shinjuku Triad Society, the first of
three films included in this Black
Society Trilogy set from Arrow Video, displayed his ability to inject his
own style into a Kinji Fukasaku style yakuza. The second film in this set, Rainy Dog, takes the yakuza genre into a
different direction though. It's one that uses many of the same themes and
focuses, but strips them down to the essentials. It delivers a film that still
pushes its audience into some uncomfortable areas, but uses its suffocating
atmosphere, disconnect, and ultra-vague character and world building to
accomplish it. If Shinjuku Triad Society
was Miike taking his V-cinema ideas to the next level, Rainy Dog is taking that level and spinning it into a much more
artistic and wholly different tone…to some very impressive results.
Exiled. That is what has happened to Yuji (Show Aikawa). A
yakuza hitman already on the run and staying in Taiwan, he finds out his group
has abandoned him there to make petty cash working for a local triad. To make
matters more complicated, he’s suddenly left with a young mute boy who might be
a son that he has never seen before. It’s only a matter of time before his life
style comes to kill him, but can he reclaim a life in Taiwan that was never his
to begin with?
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| It can't rain all the time. |
While Rainy Dog
might be inherently connected with the other two films in the Black Society Trilogy by themes and
concept, it is an entirely different beast than the other two in its execution.
Rainy Dog at times plays out like an
arthouse drama with the spirit of a Greek tragedy that occasionally slips into
the realms of yakuza cinema. Miike handles the entire thing like it’s a small
character study instead of the political and gangster power struggles of many other
yakuza films and it gives the film a much different tone, perhaps more akin to
the films of Beat Kitano of the period rather than Miike’s ultra-violent and
abrasive style. It’s this change of pace that really sets the film out and
showcases the talents of Miike as a director though. Rainy Dog, at times, will erupt in violence and certainly moves to
make its audience uncomfortable with the cold and disconnected humanity of its
lead character, but it approaches it in an atmospheric and vague manner that
would much rather show the audience through its execution than have to have it
explained to them through a narrator or dialogue. Artistic, perhaps poetic, but
effective in almost all manners.
This, of course, does not stop Miike from layering the film
with enough darker and uncomfortable material to make sure that it feels like one
of his films. As mentioned, the lead of the film is a rather unusual character,
hindered and still empowered by his stature as an outsider in the setting of
the film. Rainy Dog rarely uses dialogue to progress his character, but it uses
his interactions with those around him as a way to build his arc. Most, if not
all, the characters in this film are of a similar placement to our titular
anti-hero, whether it’s his unwanted son who would seemingly follow his father
into the jaws of hell despite the fact that his father is less of a parent than
the mother who haphazardly disposes of him to a ruthless gangster whom she
barely knows (paralleled by Yuji not even remembering her name) or the
prostitute that he connects with on some base level as someone used by the men
around her, looking for hope in a faraway city. Rainy Dog is a film about those outcast and burdened by their lives
who still find some kind of hope outside of the violence and fear that rains
down on them like the actual rain that plagues them in the film. It’s these characters
and Miike’s choice in how to handle their interactions and movement, not to
mention the brilliant performances, that gives the film a life outside of its
vague plotting and darker subject matter.
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| An unlikely trio. |
Rainy Dog is not
necessarily a film that may appeal to those more in tune with the portion of
Miike’s filmography that focuses on gimmicks and horrific violence. Instead,
this a drama that would rather take its short bursts of violence to break the
sadness and quiet moments of reflection about the dark days of these characters
who are looking for the sunshine ahead. It’s executed to near perfection, using
its settings, performances, and pacing to build the “tragedy of an outsider” in
full without compromising anything in the meantime. While all three films in
the Black Society Trilogy are certainly worthy of viewing and this one may not
be quite as ‘entertaining’ as the other two, Rainy Dog might be the masterpiece of Miike’s early career that is
far too often overlooked for his more abrasive films.
ARROW FEATURES:
Black Society Trilogy
Written By Matt Reifschneider
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