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Gozu

Play trailer Poster for Gozu R 2003 2h 10m Horror Comedy Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
71% Tomatometer 56 Reviews 80% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Chaos ensues when a yakuza boss orders a young gangster (Hideki Sone) to kill an insane colleague (Shô Aikawa).
Gozu

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Miike continues his run of compellingly bizarre flicks.

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Critics Reviews

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Jeff Shannon Seattle Times 09/30/2004
1/4
An undisciplined mess. Go to Full Review
G. Allen Johnson San Francisco Chronicle 09/17/2004
0/4
For Miike freaks only (and you know who you are). Everyone else: Stay far, far away. Go to Full Review
Jay Boyar Orlando Sentinel 09/10/2004
3/5
There is something compelling about the way this film sneakily taps into our collective psychosexual fantasies. Go to Full Review
Adele Hartley The List 04/18/2019
3/5
My advice is to eat before you. Gozu, much like its director, is a cinematic law unto itself. Go to Full Review
Sarah Boslaugh Playback:stl 12/14/2009
7/10
Gozu takes you on a very strange psychosexual journey, which is all the more disturbing because it takes place in completely ordinary surroundings... Go to Full Review
Felix Vasquez Jr. Cinema Crazed 04/29/2009
2/4
Many times it's just a rambling and incoherent mess without a point in sight... Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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William L 04/26/2022 My second Miike after his excellent 1999 horror film Audition, Gozu is such a bizarre combination of elements that it is very difficult to describe; it's more a film that you have to see to have any chance of understanding. My best stab at it would be if you took Wait in Fright, transplanted it into 2000s Japan, and dolloped in a seemingly endless parade of Yakuza narratives, traditional ghost stories, sexuality, and surrealism. The film floats through genres like almost nothing that you've ever seen before (even getting into a bit of Cronenberg body horror), and the only unifying feature seems to be a relentless dedication to the bizarre and a fascinatingly distinct and bonkers exploration of male sexual identity, using stereotypically masculine archetypes (gangsters) and subjecting them to literally transformative experiences to touch on identity. Miike demonstrates an idiosyncratic style that certainly puts him as one of the most original cinematic artists of his generation, possibly to the detriment of his commercial success. But this side of Miike might be just too darn weird for me; Gozu is the kind of film that you have to be at the far end of a normal distribution curve to really geek over, and I'm in that middle majority. Entirely unique and unpredictable, but very strange indeed. (3/5) See more justin t 02/15/2022 This is a very strange film. It makes little sense. It is also very long with not much happening. The story may seem simplistic until you look deeper and there are so many subtle detailed nuances that it can be a little compelling. Sadly the film drags along, like the men in drag in the restaurant, to the more awkward situations. I mean what the hell would you do if an old lady offered you breast milk to drink? Especially difficult to refuse her if she was very insistent that you sampled her home-grown milky goodness. The ending is utterly twisted but does not justify the whole film before it. It started David Lynch and ended David Cronenberg. See more 10/23/2021 Surreal film from start to finish very David Lynch inspired but a masterpiece in its own right! See more R P 10/04/2021 To say Gozu is not for everybody would be a massive understatement. If this is your first time watching a Takashi Miike movie, stop and watch a different one first. This is a mind trip. (foreverfinalgirl.com/takashi-miike-gozu/) See more 08/06/2020 It's trash, but that's not surprising given the fact that I've hated most of Miike's films. Auditon is still okay, though. See more 07/20/2020 I wanted to see a horror movie based off an urban legend, Instead. I got a three hour pornographic fanfiction about Japanese gangsters and insane women, doing insane things. The only thing scary about this movie, is it's not the worst movie i've ever seen. See more Read all reviews
Gozu

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis Chaos ensues when a yakuza boss orders a young gangster (Hideki Sone) to kill an insane colleague (Shô Aikawa).
Director
Takashi Miike
Producer
Kana Koido, Harumi Sone
Screenwriter
Sakichi Satô
Production Co
The Klockworx Co., Ltd.
Rating
R (Violent Content|Language|Aberrant Sexual Content)
Genre
Horror, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
May 17, 2003, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 22, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$54.4K
Runtime
2h 10m
Sound Mix
Stereo