After being tasked with taking his senior to be executed, a young Yakuza (Hideki Sone) encounters a series of bizarre and troubling incidents in this unconventional crime tale. “Gozu” begins with the Yakuza Ozaki (Show Aikawa) telling his boss that everything that he’s about to say is a joke, and not to take it too seriously. This could be a nod to the audience that we are in for a wild ride, even by the standards of director Takashi Miike’s extensive catalogue of weird and wonderful films. Not long after Ozaki says this he spots a small dog outside; convinced it is a ‘Yakuza dog’, specially trained to kill gangsters, he heads outside to dash the dog against the ground, swinging it around his head on its lead before flinging it into the window. This sets the tone for the film’s blend of dark comedy, graphic violence, and seemingly non-sequitur storytelling. After Ozaki dies unexpectedly in an accident, his junior, Minami (Sone), stops by a cafe; but when he returns to the car, Ozaki is gone. Things get stranger when Minami checks in at a nearby ryokan, with a lactating landlady, a cow-headed figure in Y-fronts, rituals to summon spirits, odd patrons of the local cafe, and the mystery of how a dead man got up and walked away.
Written by Sakichi Sato and directed by Takashi Miike, “Gozu” provides an entertaining story from beginning to end, with provocative imagery veering from sinister to hilarious. The film constantly undercuts the tension wtih moments of farce, or drives things to the extreme in a way that leaves you searching for some symbolism. Hideki Sone does a great job as the confused Minami, his anxiety about what he has to do and his loyalty to his senior writ large in his performance. Likewise, the unhinged thug Ozaki is played brilliantly by Show Aikawa. The cast of peculiar characters they meet along the road, including Shohei Hino’s Nose, a man with a peculiar skin condition, and Keiko Tomita and Harumi Sone, the odd couple who run the local inn, all help to bring the film’s mysterious journey to life. Koji Endo’s score of grinding strings furthers the unsettling atmosphere, emphasising Minami’s descent into a world both inexplicable and inescapable.
“Gozu” is a film that lends itself to interpretation, but it is hard to pin down just one. At its heart it centres on the anxiety of Minami, perhaps grappling with his conscience knowing that is driving his senior to his death. Ozaki is knocked out when Minami brakes hard as the road comes to an abrupt end at a river. This could be the first of several references to the afterlife, although they do not cross the river. Whether Ozaki is in hell, purgatory, or some nighmare world, the mystery deepens as he falls for a woman claiming to be Ozaki, played by Kimika Yoshino. Again, it is possible to see this as Ozaki’s spirit, now in its pure form, and the final moments of the film again twist ideas of identity and self to a grotesque yet compelling conclusion. The film seems to poke fun at the Yakuza as an institution, particularly in the character of their boss (Renji Ishibashi), who has a peculiar ritual required before love-making. Whether a parody of the typical crime film; a dark dive into the psyche of gangsters; or a film about closeted homosexuality, “Gozu” is a film that provides plenty of food for thought.
