The Killing The Killing
Jul
15
2007

Fantasia Report:  Big Bang Love, Juvenile A Review

Posted by Todd Brown at 9:02am.

Posted in Film News , Cult, Drama, Asia, Fantasia Festival 2007, Toronto Film Festival 2006.

bigbangstill.jpg

[Fantasia info page here.]

Japanese cult director Takashi Miike continues to amaze with his restless ability to continually re-invent himself.  Though very different in terms of setting and degree of violence Big Bang Love, Juvenile A plays almost as a companion piece to his recent IZO moving further down the line of experimentation and metaphysical questioning begun in his hyper-violent time hopping samurai film.  Once again Miike has crafted a film that utterly rejects conventional narrative and film making conventions to instead try to break new ground while asking big questions about the destructive nature of humanity.

Ryuhei Matsuda and Masanobu Ando star as two young men imprisoned for a pair of unrelated murders on the very same day.  But while their crimes and punishments match the two men couldn’t be any more different, Matsuda’s Jun a meekly asexual gay bar employee who went into a bloody frenzy following a sexual assault while Ando’s Shiro is a hyper aggressive, hyper tattooed repeat offender who would rather talk with his fists than his tongue.  They seem an unlikely pair but Jun seems to be the only inmate Shiro will even tolerate, the strong fighter frequently rising unbidden to his quiet companion’s defense.  How then to explain it when Jun is discovered throttling Shiro’s still-warm corpse?

From the very opening shot, a clapboard clacking down to mark the start of a scene, Miike makes it clear that Big Bang Love will be a heavily artificial film.  With its ultra-spare sets and dramatic lighting design comparisons to Von Trier’s Dogville and Manderlay are inevitable but while the Dane stripped thing back in an effort to create a higher degree of intimacy and naturalism Miike is going for precisely the opposite effect, aiming for something highly theatrical and entirely artificial and creating an abstract language to address the never changing hostility of man against man.  Spoken narration, experimental dance, recitations of poetry, extreme color saturation, they are all tools in the palette Miike employs to create a thoroughly deconstructed, sci-fi tinted noir murder mystery.

Much like IZO, Big Bang Love is a film certain to sharply divide audiences.  Unusual it certainly is but it is not at all the piece of shock transgression that Ichi the Killer is, say, and it has no desire to be.  Miike is showing an interest in exploring art house sensibilities and while the art house Miike certainly makes for compelling viewing it will, no doubt, leave a good many of his old fans either confused or bored.  And, unfortuanately, it is precisely his well earned transgressive reputation that will prevent this film from being widely seen by those with more typical art house leanings.  But whether it finds an audience or not Big Bang Love shows a steady progression from one of the most fascinating film makers working today, an artist finding a dveloping yet another distinct voice at a furious pace.

  • Digg This
  • Stumble It!
  • Reddit
 

Reader Comments

  1. Josh 09/14/2006 @ 10:20pm

    I’m very interested to see this.  Izo was a very confounding experience for me, I liked the first 45 minutes or so, and then I kind of got lost.  I think if I watch it again, it will fall together.  Big Bang Juvenile A seems very interesting, lets hope it gets a home video release soon.

  2. maledei 09/15/2006 @ 3:58am

    superb film. don’t forget the streaming Windows Media clips on the Berlinale Teddy (Gay & Lesbian award) website, mentioned at twitch before:

    http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/005301.html

  3. Halcyon 09/15/2006 @ 5:05am

    Very interesting review. For me personally, IZO was a very rewarding experience and I can’t wait to finally see Big Bang Love, Juvenile A. It looks really promising.

  4. Farrell 09/15/2006 @ 9:21am

    Izo was awful. Is this movie just as bad or worse?

  5. logboy 09/15/2006 @ 12:28pm

    i would rather hear people say (or admit) “counfounding” as their experience with Izo than “bad"… its not a bad film in the slightest in my opinion, that being something very different from “didnt understand it” or “didnt enjoy it” or something similar, which is how those things all get muddled up.

  6. misao 09/16/2006 @ 4:04am

    who throttles whom . . . ?  In the link it says that Shiro strangled Jun . . .

  7. Todd Brown 09/16/2006 @ 9:46am

    They’ve got it backwards on the info page.  Matsuda strangles Ando ...

  8. E 10/22/2006 @ 1:24pm

    Brilliant film.

  9. krakatau 07/16/2007 @ 6:02am

    this is a true masterpiece.

  10. ASIAN FLIX 07/16/2007 @ 4:49pm

    Agree with Farrell, one word or 2 words best describes IZO, ‘Bad’ or ‘Bad and Boring’.

    Well, if this one is anything like IZO, it will be a total waste of time to even watch the first 5 mins, you could have more fun having a root canal done.

    I do admit, as some of you already know, Miike has made some good movies, but its just that hes made a lot more Bad than Good.

  11. fifi 07/17/2007 @ 5:19am

    Did not like Izo, but loved this, succeeded in the places Izo failed. In some strange unexplanaiable way, reminiscent of Jodorowsky.

Post Your Comments

You must be a registered member to post comments.

If you have a Twitch account, click here to sign in.

If you don't have a Twitch account, click here to register. Don't worry, it's free!

Launch The Twitch Video Player

Stuff We Like

Shop at our affiliated sites and support Twitch while feeding your pop-culture addiction.

Our Latest Film & DVD Reviews

More Film & DVD Reviews...

Our Latest Interviews

More Interviews...

Recent Contests & Featured Content

Recent Comments