IZO is a 2004 Japanese

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 film, directed by Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike

is a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...

. 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

Tosa

Tosa can refer to:*Japanese terms:**Geography:***In Kōchi Prefecture****Tosa, Kōchi ****Tosa, Kōchi , a town****Tosa District, Kōchi***Tosa province or Tosa Domain, now known as Kōchi Prefecture**Tosa dialect...

.

Izo appeared previously in Hideo Gosha

Hideo Gosha

was a Japanese film director.Among his most famous films are Goyokin and Hitokiri, released in 1969, and The Wolves, released in 1971. His most famous film in the West is Sword of the Beast, released by Criterion....

's Hitokiri (1969), then played by Shintaro Katsu

Shintaro Katsu

, born Toshio Okumura was a Japanese actor, singer, producer, and director...

. 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

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 accompanied by acid-folk singer Kazuki Tomokawa

Kazuki Tomokawa

Tenji Nozoki , best known by the stage name Kazuki Tomokawa , is a prolific Japanese musician, active in the Japanese music scene since the early seventies. He is often described as a "screaming philosopher" due to his idiosyncratic singing style...

 on guitar. Kazuya Nakayama plays Izo, and the countless characters he encounters on his journey include for instance Takeshi Kitano

Takeshi Kitano

is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...

 and Bob Sapp

Bob Sapp

Robert Malcolm "Bob" Sapp is an American kickboxer, mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, actor, comedian and former professional American football player. Sapp currently has a combined fight record of 21–21–0, mostly fighting in Japan...

.

Cast and roles

• Kazuya Nakayama - Okada Izo
• Kaori Momoi
• Ryuhei Matsuda
  Ryuhei Matsuda
  is a Japanese film and television actor. He is best known for his roles in Japanese films such as Taboo and Nana.-Early life:Matsuda was born on 9 May 1983 in Tokyo to Yusaku Matsuda, a Japanese actor, and Miyuki Matsuda , a Japanese actress. He has two siblings, one of whom is Japanese actor Shota...
  
  
• Ryôsuke Miki
• Yuya Uchida
  Yuya Uchida
  is a Japanese actor and singer, who is regarded as a major figure in Japanese popular music.He began his music career in 1957, and became one of Japan's pivotal rock and roll figures. He became good friends with John Lennon after touring with The Beatles in 1966...
  
  
• Masumi Okada
  Masumi Okada
  was a professional actor, singer, stand-up comedian, and film producer. Also known by his nickname, "Fanfan", he was born in Nice, France, to a Japanese father, Minoru Okada, who was an artist, and a Danish mother, Ingeborg Sevaldsen, who was the sister of Eline Eriksen, the model for the "Mermaid...
  
  
• Hiroki Matsukata
  Hiroki Matsukata
  , real name is a Japanese actor. He is the son of jidaigeki actor Jūshirō Konoe and actress Yaeko Mizukawa and has a younger brother Yūki Meguro who is also an actor....
  
  
• Hiroshi Katsuno
• Masato
  Masato (kickboxer)
  Masato Kobayashi is a Japanese former welterweight kickboxer. He was the world champion of ISKA at Welterweight under Oriental rules, and he is the winner of K-1 WORLD MAX World tournament in 2003 and 2008...
  
  
• Bob Sapp
  Bob Sapp
  Robert Malcolm "Bob" Sapp is an American kickboxer, mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, actor, comedian and former professional American football player. Sapp currently has a combined fight record of 21–21–0, mostly fighting in Japan...
  
  
• Takeshi Kitano
  Takeshi Kitano
  is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
  
  
• Daijiro Harada
• Renji Ishibashi
• Mickey Curtis
  Mickey Curtis
  is a Japanese actor, singer, and TV celebrity. He began his entertainment career in 1958 as an actor, and later became a rockabilly singer. In 1967, he became internationally known through his avant-garde rock band "Mickey Curtis & The Samurai". After five years, Mickey disbanded the group and...
  
  

Awards

Izo was awarded the best Special Effects prize at the Catalonian International Film Festival.

External links

Reviews

• dinaMiike - review and interpretation
• Cultflicks - review
• d+kaz
• Midnight Eye
• Martin Tsai (reprinted from WestEnder)
• Nippon Cinema

See also