Fudoh: The New Generation

Product As described. Great film.

i remember owning this movie years ago on vhs and taking a chance on it. it feels like watching an extreme anime (every way you can think of) and actually pulling off something special and over the top character driven. its not perfect and not trying to even be believable but it is still solid. when i want to shock anime fans this is my go to live action style anime.

this is hilarious.

Not the directors best but worth viewing if you are a fan.

Based on the Japanese comic book by Hitoshi Tanimura, Takashi Miike's "FUDOH The New Generation" (aka. Gokudo sengokushi: Fudo) is his very first film to ever make it to U.S. shores and it presets the expectations for his other projects. This wildly visceral, eccentric, ultra-violent, silly, tacky is unbelievably fun to watch and made such an impact when I saw it for the first time many years ago. Miike abandons all expectations as to how a Japanese film should be and ventures way beyond the impression of what a Yakuza film should be.Riki Fudoh (Shosuke Tanihara) is a young man whose appearance is misleading. A highly cultured model high school student on the surface, but underneath he has become a vicious, cold-hearted killer. Riki witnessed his older brother get beheaded by his father in order to prevent a gang war from breaking out. Successor to the Fudoh family, Riki devises a plan to destroy the old generation of the criminal organization, and to take control with his fellow classmates. But his father discovers that Riki is behind the past hits on the Yakuza bosses and now young Riki is the hunted..."Fudoh the New Generation" is enjoyable trashy fun--silly, full of unrealistic goofs and as with most of Miike's projects during this time, floats around bad taste, over-the-top fun and pure brilliance. There are several scenes that doesn't make sense but for some reason I had no problem buying into the odd material; a supposed "blown up" big bruiser reappears alive, there's a poisoned coffee that causes blood to spray, a vaginal dart gun, a sexy, hermaphrodite school girl and a sexy English teacher who wears an ultra-skimpy, mega-short outfit. Take all these elements and combine it with gallons of arterial spraying blood, a metal shoe, a lot of gunfire and brutal violence and what you'll get is "brilliantly" played, gross fun!This is a Miike project, so expect brutal violence to be the film's selling point--it also doesn't hurt when he throws in sex and nudity into the mix; which is oddly toned down. The hermaphrodite school girl and the teacher sex scene (between Marie Jinno and Miho Nomoto) was mildly erotic, tame and mostly just implied--a fact may not exactly excite those looking for pervy kicks. Most of the film's action is exaggerated and "manga-inspired" with the tone taken from the Japanese comic book. However, Miike balances this out with an insanely bleak tone, simple cinematography, and an almost realistic protagonist in Riki Fudoh. There is also some commentary as to how humans can be the most violent and insufferable creatures, since even wolves never kill their own. The film is structured quite well, and even though some scenes were grotesquely unrealistic, the film maintains its wild, visceral and moody pace.The film's best aces come from its cast of oddly, bizarre if interesting characters. Shouke Tanihara plays an unbelievably realistic "Riki Fudoh" as a high school student bent on revenge and the elimination of the old generation of Yakuza bosses. Tanihara is just unnervingly convincing as a cold and calculating young man. He delivers his lines with convincing fervor that made such a disquieting impact. Riki Takeuchi has very limited screen time as the rival gang boss, Nohma; but the actor still fills the screen with his own brand of wicked charisma. Seductively arousing Marie Jinno plays the substitute school teacher, Jun Minori who also has a dark past; I loved her portrayal as the mysterious femme fatale and she steals the show when she wears the skimpy outfits and definitely when she's in the nude. Takeshi Caesar plays Riki's older half-brother, Gondo Akihiro and fulfills the unsettling violent nature of his character; he beats up a chef for making a wrong kind of kimchi. Riki's band of students are made up by two school girls (Touka and Mika, played by Tamaki Kenmochi and Miho Nomoto respectively), Aizone ( the big guy on steroids, and a group of kids are an odd mix of innocence and cold emotion--these kids are outcasts and finds solace only among themselves. The film does pretty much lean toward its characters to deliver its emotions, and Miike does manage to avoid the film from becoming too comic bookish.Whether you like Miike or not, you have to admire his versatility and the freedom he exercises in his films. The man can indeed direct and can effectively pull off a wild blending of genres such as in "Ichi the Killer", "Gozu" and "Dead or Alive". The only complaint I have about the film is that it ended too soon, with the real showdown just about to begin. Most of his films are unrated so he can do whatever he wants. I suppose one wouldn't be hard-pressed to see this film as a major commentary by Miike as to the younger generation disregarding the older one. Then again, we do shape the "children of the future" don't we? With this in mind, the older Fudoh shaped the younger Riki Fudoh--show callousness and cold emotion, and it will be returned to you in kind."Fudoh the New Generation" delivers one heck of an "avant-garde" of a movie experience.Highly Recommended!! [4 ½ Stars]

Remember the Neil Jordan flick "The Crying Game", about love and death and terrorism and gender-bending confusion in Great Britain?Well, my critical reaction to Takashi Miike's "Fudoh", one of his roughly bazillion flicks about Yakuza doing that voodoo that They do so well (which is to say: killing other Yakuza)will be called just that: The Crying Game.Would you like to know why?It's not because at one point (between killings), its sailor-suited schoolgirl Yakuza assassin unveils her own little biological---erm---surprise, literally amidships.It's not because at its warped, twisted, diabolical core "Fudoh" is really about Love. Yes, Love---the kind that boils up a the murderous, acidic rage in the heart of its hero, Riki Fudoh (played with admirable poise and with zero sarcasm by Shosuke Tanihara, who acts for all the world that all this insanity is just a by-the-numbers Yakuza flick, demanding dignity), who declares war against his own father for the murder of his older brother years before.No, it's none of those things. Basically, "Fudoh" is unhinged, deranged, possibly evil. And when you get done watching it, *you* will be crying.That's right, *crying*.Depending on how warped you are, you'll be crying from a)utter shock at having wasted two hours of your life you won't get back, or b) from a state of uncontrollable giggles."Fudoh" is not an epic. It's not well-paced, or particularly coherent (very few Miike films are, which is part of their sick charm). Its take on filial piety left me cold; its strange thrusts and feints at mainstream humor rattled and died.Miike's flicks are always a mixed bag, reflecting the Master's madness, profligacy, and prolificity. Some are screamingly hysterical outburts of shameless chaos (as in "Ichi the Killer"), the violence almost tastily juicy, the carnage ratcheting up into a kind of baroque geyser of gore.Some are meticulously restrained little jaunts into madness where the gibbering insanity, almost mood pieces: the sheer, monstrous, unholy Wrongness is kept tightly leashed, in the cellar, just beneath the blindingly hip, leather-skinned, sinfully rad surface, ready for Miike to give the leash a tug (as in "Audition" and "Gozu").And then there is the last category: the Sh*t. Fudoh falls squarely in this last category, because it is, undeniably, even to the most die-hard acolyte of Miike, total sh*t. And that's understandable, because this is one of the Master's first movies, and showed enough lunatic promise that after "Fudoh" he could get seriously bankrolled and really start exporting the madness.With that in mind, though, "Fudoh" is a tight production, and the constraints show. Those gory, ghoulish fight-sequences? Mostly non-existent here, though they happen: remember, though, Miike made "Fudoh" for just 40 million Yen (400 grand if my exchange rate gears are cranking), which in Tokyo gets you lunch and a motel room for two nights.So yeah, while there are flashes that will slake the thirst of the high-end gorehound, don't go in expecting "Ichi".Second, for any Yakuza flick---especially a Miike jaunt---the hero and his chief nemesis (Daddums) are boring. Riki Fudoh stalks around looking somber (if stylish!) in his school uniform, often accessorizing with a white trenchcoat, which makes him look like he's about to launch an invasion of China at any minute.Nah, the fun in Fudoh is transferred over to Riki's triumvirate of assassins: a big goofy guy for pratfalls, and two Sailor Moon-esque lasses for slaughter and kink.So why FOUR stars for "Fudoh"? Because like all of Takashi Miike's art, you will see things in "Fudoh" you have never seen before. Things, quite honestly, you will never see again, outside of another Miike flick or Hell.Think of it this way: when's the last time you went down to the neighborhood cineplex and scoped out:1) A vicious Yakuza gunbattle with about 10,000 rounds exchanged---all in a toilet stall?2) A poisoned Yakuza gangster getting some bad morning coffee and turning into a human blood geyser in the back of a police car?3) A tender, touching, deeply sensitive (yeah, right!) love story between a confused, angst-ridden Ninja schoolgirl Yakuza assassin who fires lethal poisoned darts from her---umm...well, she uses pressure generated in her, erm, nether regions---anyway, between the murderous hermaphroditic Yakuza schoolgirl and the new English teacher who shows her the meaning of Love? A[...]4) Death by acid bath, on stage, during a striptease?5) Death! This time by lethal poisoned dart, shot across a lounge by the aforementioned hermaphrodite killer, launched from the boiling depths of his/her...umm...from its---hindquarters?6) Or a brutal revenge scene at a local Shinto shrine, with the victims two lisping twin Shinto priests and the assassin sent to protect them, who---well, who likes to spend quality cuddling time with his two charges.And we're just getting warmed up. If God isn't dead, He will be when he checks this demented thing out.JSG

This film has everything. Starting as a fairly routine though slick yakuza thriller, this gets weirder by the minute, as school children and strippers join the crew, all with ingenious and often inspired assassination techniques. Being a Takashi Miike film (he of Audition and Full Metal Yakuza fame), it is shot with trademark style, with some incredible editing enhancing the action, which is all as violent as one would expect from one of his films. Pleasing also is the wicked streak of dark humour that runs through this film, something that is often missing from his other films, and which makes this all the more enjoyable. Its characters and invention will keep you laughing to the end, provided you have the stomach for it.The DVD itself comes in a fairly naff box, brought to you by Eastern Cult cinema, along with their usual extras (Biographies, filmographies, stills and trailers) - good effort, but no reward.It does come in anamorphic widescreen though, and it all looks lovely.

Interesting story but too much blood, but still love it