Ichi the Killer (2001) poster
2001 · crime · horror · action

Ichi the Killer

Directed by Takashi Miike2h 9m2001
ElsewhereIMDb6.963kRT65%Metacritic55TMDB7.01k
  • heavy
  • brisk
  • extreme
  • surreal
  • bleak
  • cold
Movie DNA

Heavy, kinetic, extreme crime / horror, surreal in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.

Our read · Ichi the Killer (2001) reads as a heavy, kinetic, surreal crime · horror · action entry — extreme in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Where the cast leads
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The shape of Ichi the Killer

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What watching it is actually like.

You want transgressive yakuza splatter that punishes you for watching.

ends unsettlingit will wreck youa rollercoastergrips by minute 5attention 5/5feels its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violencegoresexual violencenudityexplicit sex

Skip it tonightSkip if extreme gore, torture, or sexualized violence will haunt you.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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