Izo (2004)

Name: Izo
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy
Released: 2004-09-07
Duration: 128 min
Rating: 6
Cast: Kazuya Nakayama, Kaori Momoi, Ryuhei Matsuda, Hiroki Matsukata, Ryôsuke Miki

Izo (2004), directed by Takashi Miike, starring Kazuya Nakayama and Kaori Momoi.

09/07/2004 BR Action, Drama and Fantasy 2h 8m

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The world never can be changed.

Synopsis

Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.

Nobuyuki FukazawaCinematography
Takashi MiikeDirector
島村泰司Editing
Fujio MatsushimaProducer

About the film

IZO is a 2004 Japanese surrealist period horror film directed by Takashi Miike. The main character of the film is Izo Okada (1832–1865), the historical samurai and assassin in 19th-century Japan who was tortured and executed by beheading in Tosa.

Izo appeared previously in Hideo Gosha's Hitokiri (1969), then played by Shintaro Katsu. However, Miike's portrayal of the character (or rather his spirit) transcends reality (and time and space) and is more of a surrealist exposé of Izo's exceedingly bloody yet philosophical encounters in an afterlife heavy on symbolism, occasionally interrupted by stock footage of World War II accompanied by acid-folk singer Kazuki Tomokawa on guitar. Kazuya Nakayama plays Izo and the many characters he encounters on his journey include figures played by Takeshi Kitano and Bob Sapp.

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Cast

Kazuya Nakayama as Okada Izo

Kaori Momoi

Ryuhei Matsuda

Ryôsuke Miki as Hampeita Takechi

Yuya Uchida as Spirit

Masumi Okada as Politician

Hiroki Matsukata

Hiroshi Katsuno as Samurai

Masato as Samurai

Bob Sapp as Monk

Takeshi Caesar as Samurai

Takeshi Kitano as The Prime Minister

Daijiro Harada as Judge

Renji Ishibashi as Samurai

Mickey Curtis as Monk

Kazuki Tomokawa

Taisaku Akino

Hiroyuki Nagato as Elder

Susumu Terajima

Saburō Shinoda

Ken Ogata

Joe Yamanaka

Awards

Izo was awarded the best Special Effects prize at the Sitges Film Festival (Spanish international festival specializing in fantasy and horror films).

External links

Izo at IMDb

ＩＺＯ (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 21 July 2007.

Reviews

dinaMiike – review and interpretation

Cultflicks – review[link removed]

d+kaz

Midnight Eye

Martin Tsai (reprinted from WestEnder)

Nippon Cinema Archived 11 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine

References

Text from Izo on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izo

Trivia

It premiered on September 7, 2004, a Tuesday.
It runs 2h08 — a typical feature length.
Its original title is "イゾー".
This film's quiz has 12 questions — enough to play more than once without repeats.

Production

StudiosKSS, Excellent Film, Izo Partners, Office Kitano
CountriesJapan
LanguagesEnglish, Japanese
StatusReleased

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Crew

Nobuyuki Fukazawa Cinematography
Takashi Miike Director
島村泰司 Editing
Fujio Matsushima Producer
服巻泰三 Producer
遠藤浩二 Original music
武知鎮典 Screenplay

Questions about this film

What is Izo about?

Izo: Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.

Who directed Izo?

Izo was directed by Takashi Miike in 2004.

Who stars in Izo?

The cast of Izo includes Kazuya Nakayama, Kaori Momoi, Ryuhei Matsuda, Hiroki Matsukata and Ryôsuke Miki.

How long is Izo?

Izo runs for 128 minutes, or 2h08.