Dead or Alive

1999, 105 min., 35 mm, color, in Japanese and Mandarin with English subtitles. Directed by Takashi Miike. With Riki Takeuchi, Sho Aikawa, Renji Ishibashi, Hitoshi Ozawa, Shingo Tsurumi, Kaoru Sugita, Ren Osugi. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation.

From March 14–June 30, 2011:
50% of all ticket sales will go to Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund.

Due to the catastrophic events in Japan, Takashi Miike has determined that he will be unable to attend the upcoming series. He sends his sincere regrets.

From Takashi Miike:
March 11, 2011

Japan was violently rocked, swallowed by the ocean as the lives of many disappeared amid the rubble. I had wanted to be here with you all. I had wanted to thank you all for coming from the bottom of my heart.

But that wish was not granted. It is unfortunate and I am very sorry. Please accept my regrets. But, from this adversity – on our lives – we will all rise up without fail. As a start, I would be grateful if you could enjoy Japan from this film.

Sincerely,
Miike Takashi

A mind-boggling carnival of ultra-violence, massive drug use, punch-drunk camerawork and unending stroboscopic editing, perfectly calculated to induce an outbreak of rapture that will leave the viewer shaking and ringing from the shock. Miike’s legendary Dead or Alive pits a yakuza of Chinese descent (Riki Takeuchi) against a Japanese cop (Sho Aikawa) in the mean streets of Tokyo’s crime-infested Shinjuku area, prowled by warring factions that vie for supremacy. Their fated encounter, propelled by an astonishing opening reel of hyperspeed action, leads a truly out-this-earth, apocalyptic conclusion, perhaps the most spectacular showdown ever committed to celluloid. Visuals, courtesy of "Hana-bi" D.P. Hideo Yamamoto, are slick and arresting and give a proud, bloody-minded majesty to the trip.

Part of the Globus Film Series:
Hardest Men in Town: Yakuza Chronicles of Sin, Sex & Violence

TICKETS
$12/$9 Japan Society members, students & seniors

Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. – Fri. 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends 11 am – 5 pm.

Purchase more than 5 tickets for at least 5 different films and receive $2 off of each ticket! Special offer available only at Japan Society Box Office or by telephone at (212) 715-1258. Offer not available online.

Takashi Miike appears courtesy of Magnolia Pictures and The Film Society of Lincoln Center. A retrospective of the director’s works will be held from March 16 to March 21.