Deadly Outlaw: Rekka
by Takashi Miike
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DVD details
Actor: Kenichi Endo, Riki Takeuchi, Ryosuke MikiDirector: Takashi Miike
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-14
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Tokyo Shock
DVD Reviews of Deadly Outlaw: Rekka
DVD Review: One of Miike's best
Summary: 4 Stars
Deadly Outlaw: Rekka may be the most accessible entry into the "traditional" form of cult Japanese director Takashi Miike. He certainly has a handful of other brilliant, not totally off-the-wall films (Sabu, Rainy Dog, Bird People in China, Audition), but none of them really fit into the more traditionally crazy Miike mold.
Deadly Outlaw: Rekka, while by no means the director's best film, is certainly one of his most complex, rewarding, and entertaining (for those who don't get a kick purely out of inaccessible characters or lots of random violence and strange sexual elements) of his vast series of work.
Rikki Takeuchi, who as an actor is as much a cult god in Japan is Miike is to Japanese film fans in the west, gives an uncharacteristically complex and often subtle performance as the vengeful, half-Korean Kunisada. Unlike a similar recent film from Miike, New Graveyard of Honor (a remake of a really great old Kinji Fukasaku film), Rekka boasts a main character that really finds a connection with the audience. He is violent and crazy, but at his core he is real and vulnerable and irresistibly human.
Kenichi Endo also turns in a surprisingly good performance. If you follow Japanese film, you will have seen him before, but never with as nuanced a performance. The great Sonny Chiba and Tetsuro Tanba also have small roles as Yakuza higher-ups, and their very presence lends the film a bit of weight.
The story is fairly simple, but the actors and Miike's distinctive style really make it stand out from normal yakuza films. Some of the violence here is among Miike's most stylish. One aspect that I would never have expected to really enjoy is Miike's use of blood as a visual tool. Blood often splashes on the lens, at one point covering it completely. Carnage is not as extreme here is in some other Miike pictures, but it achieves great balance between fun gore and bloodshed appropriate to the story.
Still, like just about every Miike film I've seen, Miike's strength is also his weakness. His trademark quirkiness lifts the film above the dozens of other films just like it, but that quirkiness goes too far sometimes, drawing us out of the reality he has set up and reducing the impact. The ending is fifty-percent brilliant and fifty-percent absurdly irritating; an artist as intelligent and imaginative as Miike could no doubt have come up with something equally as "weird" but without betraying everything that comes before it. There are other small things too that straddle the line between funny and distractingly absurd (they go too far towards the latter, in my opinion), and all of it together keeps this film from being five stars.
Still, it's a rewarding experience with some real style, interesting characters, great music, and fantastic violence.
The DVD from Media Blasters, which may be the only legitimate version currently available, is pretty nice. Despite some print damage, nothing too distracting but there are some small speckles present throughout the film, the transfer is sharp and has very nice colors. The audio is great (important for a film with as GREAT music as Rekka does!) as well. Extras include the original trailer for Rekka, four other Media Blasters trailers, and a very interesting and informative interview with Miike. It's one of the best Miike interviews I've seen.
If you're a Miike fan, don't hesitate to pick this one up. If you've seen some Miike but didn't like it, Rekka is really worth giving a shot: it has a good chance of hooking you to Miike, and once he's got you, he won't let go. For someone who's never seen a Miike Film, Rekka is a very good place to start. It's a really good film on its own, but it's also a great way to introduce yourself to one of today's most talked about Japanese directors.
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