Ley Lines (1999) shows Miike's versatility even more.

The more movies you watch by Takashi Miike, the more you realize he has done just about everything in every genre. The man can literally do anything. He has already done so freakin much that it's absolutely mind-blowing. Comedy, horror, action, crime, drama, sci-fi, fantasy, hell he can do all of them in one film. Just consider this: Stanley Kubrick directed 13 features. Hitchcock directed about 55. Spielberg 37, Kurosawa 32, Ozu 48, Tarantino 9, Guillermo del Toro 11, Jim Jarmusch 15, etc. Well, Miike has directed about 107. That is unbelievable. It's all the more astounding when you discover that Miike was given a chance to direct by a total outsider to the film industry, and yet Miike is like an entire industry all by himself now with the sheer number of films he directed. He wanted to make films that hadn't been done before. Films that the Japanese film industry wasn't making, and Ley Lines is a good example since it's about a trio of young Japanese of Chinese descent struggling to survive in Tokyo. They make friends with a distraught Shanghai hooker and piss off the local crime lord as their situation gets progressively worse. As much as I liked Rainy Dog, I prefer this film although I'm hard pressed to identify why since both really engaged me. I was less enthused by Shinjuku Triad Society although I was still happy to watch it but with Miike, you really never know what you're going to get if it's a superhero comedy like Zebraman or a bizarre surreal acid trip like Gozu or just a badass old-school samurai tale like 13 Assassins. Maybe you'll end up with giant sci-fi roaches in his anime adaptation Terra Formars or get disturbed by his groundbreaking horror Audition or witness his brilliant family fantasy musical The Happiness of the Katakuris. I just think in the end you can't go wrong with Miike. Even lesser Miike is still extremely entertaining and original.

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai may actually be better than 13 Assassins.

Hard to believe I know, and yes, I love Ichi the Killer too (I even enjoyed the craziness of Izo), but with Hara-Kiri, all the typical weirdness you might expect from a Miike film is gone. Here you have a true master with 90 directing credits to his name showing you how it's done. He's through playing around, and I don't think anyone can ignore his talent. This movie easily ranks up there with Kurosawa's Mifune classics. Heresy you say? I don't think so. True, it's a remake, but does that make John Carpenter's The Thing any less of a masterpiece? No. The way the story unfolds, the gorgeous cinematography, the superb acting, the excellent music, the amazing attention to detail, etc. It's all as good as it gets. When the end credits rolled, I was shocked to discover some CGI was used, because unlike 13 Assassins, which was fucking awesome aside from the really-shitty-looking flaming-bulls near the end (and I could've done without the little naked kid peeing), Hara-Kiri's computer effects are absolutely seamless. Now, I know it's stupid of me to say anything bad about 13 Assassins when that movie is undeniably fucking awesome (I just really hate bad CGI especially in classic-style period films), but my point is Hara-Kiri doesn't have a single thing I can nitpick. It's that good, and yes, I do tend to nitpick. But Hara-Kiri is flawless. It even managed to get to me emotionally, and I wasn't expecting that. Only a few movies have ever done that... yes, my heart is a burning pile of ash.

It just proves you can't pigeonhole a filmmaker. Before 13 Assassins, who knew Takashi Miike could make a film like that? Thankfully, someone was smart enough to trust him and let him show us all we don't know shit about what he's capable of. It's so crazy looking at all the movies he has done and how he makes 2 or 3 almost every year. That's just insane, and yeah, some of his films are pretty nuts, but damn, he's inspiring.

Spoilers. Using the bamboo sword at the end (especially after he says his sword was his most prized possession and then it's revealed he got rid of the blade) has to be the coolest fucking thing ever. And I was told that isn't in the original. What a brilliant fucking idea. He doesn't need to use a real sword. He can humiliate them all with a bamboo one. Yeah, I'm a loser, and I love samurai films a little too much, but Hara-Kiri is fucking awesome.

Some reviewers said it was a little cold and distant emotionally. For me, seeing those two adorable innocent kids who had nothing to eat but some water and the tiniest bit of vegetable really got to me especially when the boy wanted so much to catch a fish for Miho yet you know the awful fate that awaits them. A lot of the film's heart is in the details like Miho's father telling them to go ahead and eat since he's meeting someone, but you know the truth is he just won't be eating and he doesn't want them to know.

I really think that time period is by far the most interesting for the samurai since you had what used to be a rich upper-class caste forced into extreme poverty as the entire country underwent a massive change and the way each individual reacted to such a grim situation says so much about their character. It's perfect for drama, and in some ways, how one deals with such overwhelming adversity, how one confronts the end, reveals the deepest truth of all about who we really are as people. Yep, I'm a loser.