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Audio Format: DD 2.0
Video Format: Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic)
Languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Code: 1
Year Made: 2006
Running Time: 85
Release Date: 01/04/2008
For well over 50 films, Miike Takashi has straddled that fine line between inflammatory shock cinema and art. "Big Bang Love" isn't a huge departure from his past work. Aside from the modern dance opening and a lengthy monologue on manhood, Miike uses the old-fashioned whodunit format to explore his ideas on what's wrong with Japan and what's wrong with Japanese men. This won't move Miike into a market outside the big festivals, but it will add to his ever-burgeoning cache of films.
An unidentified prison is the location for a murder mystery that unfolds in flashback. At the very start of the story, the delicate, passive Jun (Matsuda Ryuhei) is found sitting across the chest of the aggressive, violent Shiro (Ando Masanobu). Shiro is dead, and Jun is obviously the prime suspect. Jun confesses, and two investigators set about trying to unravel the story and find out what the truth is.
As the story unfolds, we're drawn into the most romantic relationship since "Brokeback Mountain." Jun and Shiro meet when they're processed the first time; both are in jail for vicious homicides. This is a prison movie, and the 'feminine' Jun being taken under wing and protected by the 'masculine' Shiro isn't a surprising turn of events. What is surprising is the way Miike juggles the roles and positions of the two young men.
Who's vulnerable and who's the protector are fluid notions. Jun and Shiro each fulfil those duties on different occasions. Finding out who the two men really were is more important for Miike than finding out who killed Shiro. A host of other inmates seemingly had motives, as did the warden. Theories are repeated, again and again, until one starts to coalesce as a comfortable truth.
Miike draws the audience into the mystery by having the investigators' questions written on the screen as if we were asking them ourselves. The repetitive structure -- of the questions, the crime and Jun and Shiro's first meeting -- underscore the cycle that Jun and Shiro are stuck in. In the end, Miike challenges our notions by throwing the easy answers in our faces, declaring (through the investigators) that it is easy answers we're more likely to believe anyway.
The symbolic, metaphoric elements in "Big Bang Love" -- a rocket ship that's parked just outside the prison, the Mayan pyramid right beside it (and the associative masculine/feminine imagery), the "Dogville"-esque sets -- get in the way only so much as newcomers to the director's work allow them to. Miike directs with as sure a hand as ever, but has reduced the number of freak show add-ons in keeping with the minimalist nature of the film. He's not known for being terribly sentimental or emotional, but the heart of "Big Bang Love" is in the bond forged between Jun and Shiro, a bond painted in surprisingly warm, deep tones by the Miike, yet another demonstration of his command of the craft.
Ariyoshi Jun (Matsuda Ryuhei), who worked at a gay bar, is sexually assulted by a customer, goes into a frenzy and kills the man. While being transported to jail, Jun meets another young male: Katzuki Shiro (Ando Masanobu) an impressive youth with curious tattoos and looks that could kill.
Shiro soon displays his brute force from the beginning. The timid Jun is attracted to Shiro's intensity and strength. Jun is the only person that Shiro opens up to as they accept each other for who they are.
A guard witnesses an incident. One of the young men strangles another prisoner with all his might in a common area. The corpse has breathed his last breath. It's Shiro. Tears flow down the face of the young man who turns to the guard. It's Jun.
Special Features:
- Behind The Scenes
- Director's Interview
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