Great film by one of my favourite directors. It's amazing how far Miike has come as a director from low budget gore fests to professional big budget movies. I recently saw his remake of Harakiri in 3D which was pretty good but I think I still prefer his old low budget violent yakuza flicks with some of the weirdest scene I have ever seen in movies.
My recommendations if you want to be schooled in the world of Miike:
Ichi the Killer - the movie that put him on the map as a cult director. Based on a popular manga and was banned in many countries for its crazy level of violence.
Audition - You think you're watching some crappy romance movie but then Miike surprises sexes you with some violent horror.
Gozu - Another of Miike's violent yakuza films, weird and violent. All I have to say is three words: Reverse Birth Scene.
Dead or Alive - Probably my favourite Miike movie. The first and probably strongest of his Dead or Alive trilogy. Great Yakuza cat and mouse with the best use of deus ex machina in a movie ever.
Visitor Q - A big WTF drama. One of the weirdest movies I've ever seen.
The Bird People of China - One of his first forays into proper serious Drama. A beautiful drama about what it means to be a modern man.
Sukiyaki Western Django - Made a few years ago it was his first film to release overseas. A mix of shakespear, samurai and western. All the japanese actors speak in Engrish making the dialogue hilariously hard to understand. Also has a cameo from Tarantino himself.
I could go on forever but i'll leave it at that. He also recently did a film adaption of the Ace Attorney DS games which apparently is amazing.
