Father Geek here with word on the latest from that madman of the world cinema... Takashi Miike's Jitsuroku Ando Gumi...
This is BUNTA checking in yet again with another Takashi Miike movie scoop. While film fans in the West are still freaking out over his oldies like AUDTION and ICHI THE KILLER, Miike has spent the better part of the year pumping out new titles at the rate of about one a month. September is no different, although the latest one certainly looks to be an unqualified stunner. After the recent grim yakuza tidings of NEW GRAVEYARD OF HONOR AND HUMANITY, and the homeless humor of SHANGRI-LA, here comes a FUDOH-esque return to cartoonish-yakuza-action-violence-comedy in TRUE STORY OF ANDO'S GANG - LEGEND OF OUTLAW FIRE (Jitsuroku Ando Gumi - Kyoudou-den Rekka).
Now, the reason why this movie stands to be so singularly awesome is because the very idea of Miike taking on the TRUE STORY OF ANDO'S GANG genre is like a dream come true. Noburo Ando was this impossibly cool real-life post-war gangster with a giant scar on his face who wound up becoming a movie star in the sixties and seventies (you can read his entire life story in the book TOKYOSCOPE). So how is he any different from Coolio, Snoop, and co.? The difference is that Ando played his own bad self in dozens of outrageous films that purported to be, you guessed it, the 100% TRUE STORY OF ANDO'S GANG. Even as the man himself is considerably advanced in age, Ando movies are still made every so often in Japan, mostly now for the straight to video market. But Miike's gone nutzoid and given Ando and his legendary gang a serious revisionist treatment.
Get ready for the cast: Riki Takeuchi (the Bad Azz Mofo from DoA and Fudoh), Renji Ishibashi (Audition), Tetsuro Tamba (You Only Live Twice and about a zillion other movies), old time rock and roller Yuya Uchida and . Harry's new best friend the incredible Sonny Chiba! Yes! Yes! Yes! Actual story details are still under wraps, but the few stills that have leaked out certainly look tantalizing. One shows a silver-haired Riki with a giant rocket launcher in sleazy Kabuki-cho. Another shows a full metal cyborg yakuza blasting away. Again, there seems to be a serious Fudoh vibe at work here, so everyone baffled by HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS should be pleased about that.
Hope this one makes it West sooner rather than later. After all, the Miike backlog is building up mighty fierce and them fans are hungry.
