AKA: 46-okunen no koi
Director: Takashi Miike (Japan 2006)
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars (good)
Review by: Charlie Prince

Takashi Miike’s new film Big Bang Love: Juvenile A plays tonight at the New York Asian Film Festival and it’s an absolute must see for movie fans, even if it’s not obvious at first. And I’ll confess point blank that it’s not because of the gripping plot – I’ve seen the film twice and still have no idea what it’s about. And while I realize that’s normally not a selling point, this is different because director Takashi Miike is easily one of the most interesting, perhaps the most interesting director working today.

For those not familiar with Takashi Miike’s work, let me give you a crash course. He’s the film equivalent of a triathalon wonder. He tackles the horror movie? First pitch: home run (Audition). He tackles the gangster film? Grand slam (Ichi the Killer, among many others). One by one he moved through the genres creating one excellent film after another. Comedy? Touchdown (Happiness of the Katakuris). Twisted Drama? Home run (Visitor Q). Children’s movie? Ace (Great Yokai War). Moving, life-affirming drama? Score after score (Bird People of China and Guys From Paradise, among others). And here’s the kicker – he did most of those in one year (Miike has often made 8+ movies a year during his career!).

Now, I’m not saying Miike’s perfect – he’s made tons of terrible movies. I should know, I’ve seen about 30 of them. After all, the man got his start in the porn industry. But to say he’s risen above those beginnings is a vast understatement, today he is a celebrated master, albeit with a deviant sense of humor. Miike was becoming untouchable, a guaranteed success (or at least critical success) on nearly every film.

But then something interesting happened a couple years ago – Miike’s movies took off in a strange, experimental direction. His recent film Izo, for example, is almost unwatchable it’s so “out there” (see our full review here). And Big Bang Love: Juvenile A is another step down that ultra-surreal path. Many fans are disappointed, because they’d love to see him churn out the fun genre films he became known for. But, while I’m sure he’ll return to that arena from time to time, I think it’s probably a good thing that he’s looking for something new to do. The man is so creative, he has little left to prove in the gangster film. But he’s gone so far afield, it does prompt the question “what happened?”

Here’s my theory: it’s not simply that Miike got bored, and having conquered every film genre out there he’s only interested in the ultra-symbolic and cryptic, though there may be something to that. But primarily it stems from this: Miike’s talent lies not in crafting stories from start to finish (he always directs other people’s work), but rather in mastering the art of HOW to tell a story, and in particular, how to tell a story very creatively. Sometimes too creatively (See, e.g., Izo). But even when it doesn’t work, it’s interesting. And right now, Miike is in ultra-experimental mode. He’s hanging out with David Lynch in a world where Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas seems kinda straight forward. And, frankly most people won’t get it (I certainly don’t).

But even so, it’s fascinating, and even though I have no idea what the long, inscrutable poem means, or the significance of the explosive dance sequence at the beginning of Big Bang Love: Juvenile A, I’ve seen enough of Miike’s work to know that he’s worth paying attention to. Close attention. He’s creating new ways to tell a story, and if you’re interested in this game of how stories are told that we call the movies, you’d be nuts not to check out this film, in my humble opinion anyway.

And by the way, if anybody figures out what in the world is going on in this movie, please write in to let us know. For those looking to learn more about Miike, I highly recommend Tom Mes’s biography “Agitator.”