ichi the killer

ICHI THE KILLER, Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, 2001, ©Media Blasters

ICHI THE KILLER Gets A Digitally Restored 4K Bloodbath From Well Go USA Starting This November

It was back in May ahead of the Cannes Film Festival that news broke of a forthcoming remastering and re-release of film auteur Miike Takashi’s manga adaptation hit, Ichi the Killer. The controversial ultra-violent crime horror scored a cult following after its 2001 and having only been shot on Betacam and only coverted 35mm film at the time, new technology now deems it possible for a more crisp and pristine finish. Restoration of the film was handled by L’Immagine Rittrovata Asia, the Hong Kong offices of Davide Pozzi’s Bologna, Italy-based film restoration lab which opened to a lucrative streak of restoring Asian film in the wake of bolstering online video demand. Since then, the long-awaited announcement of its acquisition news was made over the weekend with word that Well Go USA have officially acquired distribution rights to the new 4K restoration now dubbed Ichi The Killer: The Digitally Restored Director’s. […]

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Miike Takashi’s ICHI THE KILLER Will Get A Remastered And Revived Re-Release

EMP One needn’t look too far in director Miike Takashi’s career to find any number of titles that near perfectly illustrate the warped, mindbending judo that embodies his craft. I haven’t seen all of his movies but the ones I have are all definitely thrilling classics in their own right – some of which are real envelope pushers. Just shy of the halfway point of his career by 2001, an adaptation of Yamamoto Hideo’s seinen manga, Ichi The Killer, became one of those titles. Starring Omori Nao in the title role opposite Asano Tadanobu, it’s the twisted tale of psychological and emotional tumult and reprieve between the intersecting lives of a pent-up, psychologically-scarred martial artist – armed with a kill switch and a fixed blade on his left foot – who is manipulated into assassinating Yakuza crime figures, and the sadomaschist Yakuza enforcer looking for him. Tanno Masato directed the […]

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