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Takashi Miike

Miike makes films that others wouldn't dare to make. He came to film making the old fashioned way, working his way up from production hand until eventually, during Japan's straight to video boom era, he got his chance to direct.

His first cinematic release was Shinjuku Triad Society, a fairly standard triad film in 95, since then he has directed over 60 films. He first hit Western audiences with Audition, a cold chilling torture film that led the way for films like Hard Candy and Hostel. That was a golden period for Miike, he followed Audition with the Dead Or Alive trilogy, and then his masterpiece Ichi The Killer.

His films show graphic violence and sex, and often start of as standard genre films, and end in a weird surrealist twist. Some times he starts a film one way and ends another, like Gozu, its a standard gangster film for about 35 minutes, the last half is a surreal mind twist with mother issues. And in other times like in One Missed Call, he starts and ends with a weird horror film.

Western film directors and audiences are big fans of Miike's, with Tarantino starring in his film Sukiyaki Western Django, his horror film One Missed Call has just been remade for western audiences, he was one of the directors chosen for the masters of horror series and he was asked to do a special cameo in Hostel. There is no doubt that Miike could never have made a career in Hollywood, his films are way to disturbing for mainstream audiences.

The test for most people is the opening scene in Ichi The Killer, if you can sit through that scene, then Miike may be the director for you, if not, his extreme violence and sexual challenging nature will be way to much for you.


What members say | Filmography

Takashi Miike - what members say


  • Audition
  • Audition review by Daemonicus from London, UK
    Rated - 4 stars KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN! 13 April 2004
    ...nothing you've seen before, I promise! all I can say is I'm in complete awe of Takashi Miike to have the imagination to create this movie and then to have sold the idea to ...  
  • Shinjuku Triad Society
  • Shinjuku Triad Society review by Scott Clark from Edinburgh, Scotland
    Rated - 4 stars Not Miike's usual style but a good film all the same 14 April 2005
    ...This doesnt follow the usual antics of a Takashi Miike pesentation such as the twisted psyche of Gozu or the downright sickness of Visitor Q. Its more of a detective trying ...  
  • Ichi The Killer
  • Ichi The Killer review by Benjamin Brown from Cornwall, England
    Rated - 5 stars Please Read Carefully... 11 December 2004
    ...story in here but it sometimes becomes difficult to follow because the director Takashi Miike has had to fit so much in. I truly love this film which some people might find ...  

Takashi Miike - filmography


  • Gozu on DVD (2003)
    Starring: Hideki Sone,  Sho Aikawa,  Kimika Yoshino
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    This wildly bizarre Japanese horror movie from master Takeski Miike (AUDITION) follows the mysterious disappearance of Brother, a gangster who was accidentally killed by one of his Mafia cohorts, Minami. Searching for Brother's body--which vanished minutes after he was shot--Minami stumbles into a ..read more »
    Rate this: 3.0 64% from 411 members
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  • Dead Or Alive: Final on DVD (2002)
    Starring: Sho Aikawa,  Maria Chen
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    The ace cop of a totalitarian police force and a drifting android play their parts in a post-apocalyptic society. They are destined to fight. Their encounter will change them forever.
    Rate this: 2.5 54% from 178 members
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  • Happiness Of The Katakuris on DVD (2001)
    Starring: Kenji Sawada,  Naomi Nishida,  Keiko Matsuzaka
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 15
    Best known for his dark splatterfests (AUDITION, ICHI THE KILLER), director Takeshi Miike takes a detour from his usual style with HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS. After losing his job at a department store, patriarch Masao (Kenji Sawada) has opened a country inn at which the whole family can work. The ..read more »
    Rate this: 3.0 67% from 780 members
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  • Visitor Q on DVD (2001)
    Starring: Kenichi Endo,  Shungiku Uchida,  Kazushi Watanabe
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    In Miike Takashi's outrageous, taboo-busting satire Vistor Q, shamed reporter Kiyoshi Yamazaki visits one of Japan's many comfort houses to make a documentary about sex and violence amongst the nation's youth and is surprised to encounter his nubile daughter there. Soon after he meets "Q", an ..read more »
    Rate this: 3.0 59% from 783 members
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  • Ichi The Killer (2 discs) on DVD (2001)
    Starring: Tadanobu Asano,  Nao Omori,  Shinya Tsukamoto
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    Prolific director Takashi Miike (AUDITION) keeps finding new ways to test the boundaries of on-screen violence. ICHI THE KILLER is a masterful piece of filmmaking, simultaneously funny and horrific, but it's only for viewers with strong stomachs. One character, Kakihara (Japanese indie film ..read more »
    Rate this: 3.0 67% from 2,421 members
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  • Agitator on DVD (2001)
    Starring: Mickey Curtis,  Yoshiyuki Daichi
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    Violence between two families of Yakuza begin when a young Yakuza harasses the customers at a rival's nightclub. When the feud results in the death of a prominent crime boss, Kenzaki vows vengeance for the death.
    Rate this: 2.5 62% from 101 members
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  • Dead Or Alive 2 on DVD (2000)
    Starring: Sho Aikawa,  Noriko Aota,  Edison Chen
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    When the assassin Otamoko is hired to make a hit, he is shocked when a rival hitman gets there before him but chooses to take the money anyway and flee from the gangsters who control his life. Returning to the island of his childhood he discovers that the rival hitman was his friend Sawada and the ..read more »
    Rate this: 3.0 63% from 206 members
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  • City Of Lost Souls on DVD (2000)
    Starring: Michele Reis,  Ren Osugi,  Akaji Maro
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    THE CITY OF LOST SOULS is the fruit of Japanese auteur Takashi Miike's (AUDITION) collaboration with the Hong Kong film industry, a dazzling gangster picture that mixes the absurd, brutal violence, and the surreal freely. The film stars Michelle Reis as Kei, a young Chinese woman who is in love ..read more »
    Rate this: 2.5 59% from 205 members
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  • Ley Lines on DVD (1999)
    Starring: Sho Aikawa,  Samuel Pop Aning,  Yukie Itou
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    LEY LINES is the concluding part of Miike Takashi's thematically linked Triad Society trilogy. It follows the story of three young boys from rural Japan who move to Tokyo in search of excitement and find thrills of a sort when in the notoriously sleazy Shinjuku district. After sliding into a life ..read more »
    Rate this: 3.0 59% from 147 members
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  • Audition on DVD (1999)
    Starring: Ryo Ishibashi,  Eihi Shiina,  Tetsu Sawaki
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    AUDITION is an art-house cult horror film that will be talked about for a long time to come. Ryo Ishibashi stars as Aoyama, a single father who has not dated since his wife died seven years earlier. To help find another woman to bring joy into Aoyama's charmless life, his best friend, television ..read more »
    Rate this: 3.0 64% from 3,838 members
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  • Rainy Dog on DVD (1997)
    Starring: Sho Aikawa,  Lianmei Chen,  Ming-Jun Gao
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    RAINY DOG is the second in Miike Takashi's Triad Society trilogy which is linked by theme rather than character. This installment focuses on Yuuji, a loner who works as a triad hitman. His world is turned upside down when his ex-wife dumps a small boy, who may or may not be his son, on his doorstep.
    Rate this: 3.0 63% from 191 members
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  • Shinjuku Triad Society on DVD (1995)
    Starring: Takeshi Caesar,  Kyosuke Izutsu,  Ren Osugi
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 18
    SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY is the first in a trilogy of films by Miike Takashi that are linked by the triad theme. A cop attempts to limit the effects of an attempted takeover of drug and prostitution rackets by a Taiwanese mob. However, any attempts to exercise retraint prove futile when he discovers ..read more »
    Rate this: 3.0 60% from 198 members
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  • Sabu on DVD
    Starring: Fujiwara Tatsuya,  Satoshi Tsumabuki
    Director: Takashi Miike
    Certificate: 12
    ramed for a crime he did not commit, Eiji is subjected to the harsh realities of the Ishikawa Island workhouse. Sabu, Eiji's longtime friend, must discover who is responsible for Eiji's incarceration, before the prison life consumes him completely.
    Rate this: 2.5 53% from 254 members
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Takashi Miike facts

5 most recent films


Masters Of Horror - Series 1 - Vol.2 - 3.0 stars
Three Extremes - 3.0 stars
Gozu - 3.0 stars
One Missed Call - 2.5 stars
Dead Or Alive: Final - 2.5 stars

5 highest-rated films


Ichi The Killer - 3.0 stars
Happiness Of The Katakuris - 3.0 stars
Masters Of Horror - Series 1 - Vol.2 - 3.0 stars
Audition - 3.0 stars
Three Extremes - 3.0 stars

5 lowest-rated films


Osaka Tough Guys - 1.5 stars
Sukiyaki Western Django - 3.0 stars
Silver - 2.0 stars
Family 1 / Family 2 - 2.5 stars
One Missed Call - 2.5 stars

Most frequent co-stars


Sho Aikawa - 6 times - show films
Ren Osugi - 5 times - show films
Tomoko Nakajima - 3 times - show films
Nae Yuki - 3 times - show films
Rieko Miura - 3 times - show films

Most frequent directors


Larr - 1 times - show films
C - 1 times - show films
Fruit Chan - 1 times - show films
Chan-Wook Park - 1 times - show films
Dario Argento - 1 times - show films