Miike Takashi is a director that has only really exploded in the West cult status in the past 3 or 4 years. It seems he can do know wrong, and you have to question whether or not people are rating him because of a few good films or whether they’re rating him because he’s the newest “controversy from Japan!”. I don’t trust magazine reviews, and I don’t trust anyone that rates bad movies.

Reviews are obviously subjective, much like art, they are based upon on the viewers opinion which is influenced by many factors. City of Souls has been rated by Total Film, Variety and several other magazines as being pretty good. I didn’t actually any of the ratings or reviews until after I’d seen the film. The only reason I did purchase the film was because it was about a tenner, and it was another Takashi flick to add to my small collection.

As plots go, this has little. As plot holes go, this has many. Starring a Japanese-Brazilian called Teah, and the “killer’s agent/masturbator” in Won Kar Wei’s Fallen Angel’s as the lead’s chick, the film is narrated by Michelle Reis (the chick) during the beginning to provide some back story as to how the two met. The beginning is a confusing array of bad editing and confused direction.

Within the first 15 minutes of the film, we go from Brazil to Japan, between the journey there is a “break out” of sorts whereby Teah’s Character Mario (Christ, does it get any more original than this?) “frees” Michelle Reis’ character, Kei. She’s apparently being deported from Brazil to China (I think), and was hiding out in Brazil with Mario. Prior to this we get a “1 year ago” prologue which makes about as much sense as the “1 year later scene”. Mario enters a bar, kills everyone, gets his money after taking his revenge in said bar, goes outside in the dusty winds, gets butt naked, grabs a leather coat and disappears in the dust clouds. 1 year later we see him taking a strenuous shit, just before he goes to free Kei.

Now, I like weird films, I like mystery. Not everything I have seen makes sense, particularly when we’re talking the likes of Lynch as perhaps being a prime example. Though in many regards, his films do make sense, they just need to be “read” rather than watched. Miike achieved this with Audition, his only mature attempt at making a film as far as I am concerned. It may have been a fluke, but then it begs the question that Takeshi Kitano wouldn’t just work with any old fucker so Miike must have some redeeming qualities. Of the 60 or so films Miike has, I have seen about 15, perhaps 20. My understanding is that most of it is pretty lame, and uninventive unlike his later efforts in his career. This has to rank as one of his worst films.

City of Lost Souls lacks not mystery, but coherence and consistency. Even at Lynch’s most bizarre, there is some form of consistency that keeps you hooked and makes you think about the metaphorical and logical presentation of what is being said. In this film, everything is thrown together like a mixed bag of ingredients that should not be cooked often. It leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, like burnt cake, or milk which is past its “use by” date.

The characters communicate as if there is actually some sort of direction or script. At points they empathise with one another, and communicate “emotion”. Emotion in the same sense that a plank of wood demonstrates to a rusty nail. You don’t give a shit who dies, or who lives (except maybe Michelle Reis, but that’s obvious male behavior for you). You start to lose the plot, and after 20 minutes of the film you don’t give a shit. I wanted to give up on the film, but knew I had to see it through, so that I could warn others on avoiding this, even if it does have Miike’s banner of triumph “from the director of Audition and Dead or Alive”. This film doesn’t come close to touching either of those for technicalities, malevolence, entertainment or innovation. City of Lost Souls is a scrapbook of Miike’s ideas, and perhaps should have been renamed, “The Scrapbook Movie Idea: One of Many That Should Never Have Been Made”.

You can see what he is trying to do, and you can see at points he is trying to be serious with his direction. He interjects rudimentary and banal scenes such as the “matrix” cock fight (that’s chicken’s rather than penises for the depraved amongst you), which entertains for about 2.5 seconds, and I’m being fucking generous there. I was writing this review to say, “Hey, it’s not so bad.” But in fact it is. It is not his worst film, he has done worse, oh yes, believe me, he was worse before he got better. However, it still stinks as far as films go. Annie is a superior film. But that rocks anyway, right?

By the end of the film, you’re left feeling cheated. You can’t regain the one hour forty minutes you’ve spent watching this trash flick about nothing in particular. I’ll save you the bother of actually watching this film, and tell you that the two main characters die by a jealous Latin lady with a big shotgun, and some tight hotpants. As far as hustlers go, she ain’t too bad from a distance.

I have a long list of films that I wanted to watch, some shorter than City of Lost Souls, and ones that would have entertained more, but it can only get better from here. The worst is over, and I am glad I didn’t watch a good film and get a downer from watching this after.

Verdict: Add to your collection if you find it cheap. Just don’t watch it.