The City of Lost Souls

What Takashi Miike is driven by is of course shock and irreverence. And He succeeded quite well here : lots of useless violence, lots of humor (the blood of the gunfighters drawing "love" on the ground), lots of bad taste. But "Audition" was characterized by the same ingredients. Not to be taken seriously of course. It's true that the codes of the genre are destroyed, played with : the hero is non-asian, the asians (all yakuza or triad members are worthless human beings driven by sadistic and violent impulses) And the end is a jewel in itself perverting the usual codes in the same way as the rest of the picture Great fun ! (another oddity : it must be the only Japanese picture in which half of the dialogue is in Portuguese...)

Contrary to some of the other imdb users' comments, CITY OF LOST SOULS is one of Takashi Miike's most entertaining films. While not possessing quite the same intensity or shock value of other Miike masterpieces like DEAD OR ALIVE, CITY...nevertheless is fastmoving, balances comic book tall tale surrealism expertly with plenty of violence, sick humor as well as the doomed love story -- what more could you ask? It is NOT the run of the mill generic, mediocre, forgettable action film that most great action film directors are turning out these days. And it involves you with the characters (a multi-ethnic melting pot -- which, as astounding as it may seem to some incredulous viewers, is what major Japanese urban centers are like in this day and age -- by the way, Brazil, home country of lead halfbreed character,Mario, has one of the largest Japanese immigrant populations in the world). If you enjoy Miike, don't miss this. It's his most romantic film (!) without sacrificing any of the blood, the dark, dark humor or bizarre imagery we've come to expect from this unpredictable genius.

I have a troubled relationship to Takashi Miikes films. While i usually find them interesting i have a hard time really enjoying them. And while (or perhaps because) this is one of his less extreme movies i have the same problem here.

When Takashi Miike is discussed people often mention his over-the-top, gore-filled movies with flashy visuals and plots that are usually quite hard to comprehend. Of course plot usually takes the back-seat and are not the reason why you would watch something by Miike to begin with. "The City of Lost Souls" however is a more conventional movie where the plot is easier to understand and the action is not as extreme. And the result is, perhaps not surprisingly, not very interesting in my opinion.

This is the story about a Brazilian gangster and his girlfriend who try to leave Japan to start a new life. But things don't go as planned and before long they end up having both the Triads and the Yakuza on their tail after interfering with a drug deal.

This movie does have some interesting scenes, it's far from all bad. But in the end this is not twisted enough for my tastes. And to me it feels like Miike doesn't really have the ideas or the script to make a more straight-forward movie out of this. Rather it feels like he should either have focused more on the plot here or tried twisting the whole style of the movie a couple of times. In the end this becomes a movie with a weak plot and not enough screwed-up moments to make it interesting. While it's not without entertainment value, it's still a disappointment. I rate it 4/10.

"City of Lost Souls" is far away from being the best Miike outing I've seen - but it entertained me a lot. Plot- and style-wise, it's closest to "Fudoh" (still my favorite Miike-film) and "Dead or Alive" but it lacks "Fudohs" determination, eye candy and subversiveness as well as the surrealism of both "Fudoh" and "DOA".

The best things about "City of Lost Souls": The multi-culture cast, the cockfights (have to be seen to be believed), the hysteric violence, the style. For those who have seen Miike's "Audition" and now want to see more of this inventive director, "City of Lost Souls" would come as a surprise because many of Miike's movies are much faster and (if you want to call it that) emptier than "Audition". They're just plain fun. So is "City of Lost Souls".

Rating: 7/10

What can I say... Takashi Miike is one whose movies I enjoy more and more these days and The City Of Lost Souls isn't an exception. The piece itself is about a Brazilian protagonist and his girlfriend, trying their best to cross the border from Japan to Taiwan. They stumble upon trouble on the way, interfering with Yakuza's business and the outcome becomes a quite fast-paced roller-coaster action with violence, punchlines, and, I must add that there's also a great load of comedy here.

Anyone expecting hardcore violence throughout the entire piece may get disappointed. If you got some distance though and are open for hybrid stuff then this piece won't disappoint you. It awesome and funny, with a great mixture between the raw and cold violent scenes and the funny, surprising scenes of comedy. The language mix between Brazilian Portugese, Mandarin and Japanese is just a great additional bonus.