Black Angel Vol. 1

Black Angel is a film that represents the best of what Japanese contemporary cinema can be. It is that rare thing - an action movie that contains depth, character and intellect. The characters are all fully rounded, fleshed out and fallible. They are shades of grey, rather than black or white, and this ambivalence only lends to their realism. They even have to take time to recover after they receive a beating! It is a testament to Takashi that he can produce such empathy for these characters. His direction is polished and at times superb. One scene employs a single 8 minute take with no edits to emphasize the effect of relativity that the protagonist must be encountering on her fruitless attempts to escape and it is inspired. Takashi's trademark use of wide angle lenses is also at an apex in this movie, serving to enhance the effect of bodily movements while at the same time trapping the characters between the foreground and background, thereby outlining their plight (their lack of freedom is rooted in their desire to fulfil their destiny yet at the same time despising what they do). The violence is balletic and certainly tips it's hat to the Hong Kong heroic bloodshed movies of John Woo, et al but Takashi manages to make the set pieces his own by incorporating these formalistic camera techniques into realistic circumstances to draw the viewer into the world he has created. This is similar to Scorcese's "Raging Bull" where extremely formalistic techniques create a very realistic impression on the audience. The story deals with some familiar themes from Japanese cinema (revenge, rape, male-female power relations, etc...) and Takashi's use of motifs helps to relate the characters to one another and outline their connections. Even the title relates to the dichotomy facing our protagonist. The internal conflict of Ikko is mirrored by the external conflicts upon which she embarks. Black Angel is well conceived, well shot and well acted and deserves to be ranked among contemporary Japanese cinema's finest.

As the daughter of a Yakuza boss, six year odd Ikko witnesses the slaughter of her parents. Hey dying bodyguard is able to whisk her away from the carnage and give her to Mayo, a hit-women who goes by the codename of "Black Angel" to send to Los Angelos, warning Ikko not to think of vengeance when she gets older, before dying in a fire ravaged car. Now as a young woman (Riona Hazuki of the less then stellar "Parasite Eve") she returns to Tokyo ,along with her boyfriend Zille, to seek revenge despite what she was told and takes the name of Black Angel in honor of the woman who saved her. The action is there, the story is there, but for some reason the film didn't really click for me. The pacing seems to be off a tad. It's not bad but I enjoyed Takashi Ishii's "Freeze me", and "Angel Guts" films a tad more.

My Grade: C+

DVD Extras: Trailers for "Wild Criminal", "Blood", "Score", and "Reborn from Hell"

Eye Candy: Miyuki Ono shows breasts an extra also bares fleeting boobage

In this film Takashi Ishii adds a plot and interesting characters to his trademark violence, and the result is a watchable movie. One develops an empathy for the psychopathic and moody Ikko, and wishes her great success in her Arthurian quest to kill everyone who has crossed her. Especially since they're nowhere near as stylish and attractive as she is. Worth viewing.

Indeed a nice vengeance flick, the director made it possible to make it interesting, stylish and very cold. The story is quite simple and not very fresh, but the style and strong violence (strong in my eyes cause it's against a woman) plus good camera work and very cold pictures make it a bit more special than a lot of the other Japanese movies. It reminds me of the earlier movie GONIN, witch is at any rate commendable if you liked the BLACK ANGEL and of course takeshi kitano). I've now seen a few of his films (ishii) and have to say that he's a good director in my eyes, but don't match to make every film interesting. I like his cold depressing style, but he's not a very good story teller. If you like the vengeance theme and the described style than you've got to check it out.

Takashi Ishii's Kuro No Tenshi is a good action film but borrows too many themes and ideas from better movies such as La Femme Nikita, Leon:The Professional and Naked Killer. Reona Hazuki is perfectly cast as Ikko, the child turned cold-blooded assassin who is out to revenge the murder of her Yakuza father. Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi is 'Jil' her Japanese-American companion who helps her on her mission and steals the movie with his street dancing moves and peculiar Japanese-English mixed-up dialog. Ishii seems to borrow a lot from the Hong Kong school of gunplay action which keeps the movie interesting but the story and plot drag at times and there are many odd moments of fancy such as Ikko and Jil's dancing sequence in a hotel room which seem a bit out of place but I guess breaks the gloomy and tense atmosphere of the story. Viewers may recoil at a couple of scenes but the movie is very tame when compared to movies such as the Killer or Hard Boiled. Tenshii is an interesting entry from Ishii who has a unique flair for visuals and style but it isn't the best of the genre.