[psycho d]

Graveyard of Honor (2002). This incredible tango of violence opens with a beautifully poetic sense of devastation that is then backed by one of the best opening scenes ever. Those looking for the corny artistry that is the hallmark of Miike might be thrown for a loop with Graveyard of Honor, for this is one of his grittiest offerings ever. Unlike Ichi and his other flicks, the violence portrayed here is merely brutal and realistic, offering little comic relief.

The protagonist is one of the most unlikable characters to have ever found his way into film, so much so that any affections for him come through those unfortunates in the story that have been relegated to care about him. The thing that is most compelling about the antihero is that he is true to himself. Though we see him as a monster, his acts are that of a feral, viciously antisocial, and rather obtuse animal. Our difficulty in judging him comes with our association of him as human, but he is more a simple beast in search of carnal satisfaction. Like a wolf, keep him fed and he'll heel, but miss a meal and he''ll bite your hand off, no time for questions.

Of course, this is a creature that will never fare well in the real world, even if that world is littered with sociopaths in training, mainly because these students will all contain a remembrance of what it means to be a civilized human. As such, this movie is about an accidental career elevation and the doom that must come to fruition. Adding drugs, misplaced honor, misogyny, and revenge only adds to the fun of the convoluted spiral that our central character almost challenges to come his way. This guy truly sees himself in the mirror. This ugly truth is fully unearthed during the shootout scene, which might be the one comical moments here, more because the scene ends out of the pragmatics of sociopathy.

The acting was solid in every instance. The lead character is disturbing only because we come to believe the confliction of one that lacks empathy but understands the violent necessity of honor through revenge. His forced wife transcends into her role perfectly; submit to the beast or suffer. The irony of the honor that the beast's allies must cling onto is revealed in their faces, for they see the fatalistic nature that this honor will manifest.

The score was a slow, snazzy jazz piece that helped infuse the dreadful imagery with an underlying sense of culture. Sound, or rather a lack of it, is also used with devastating effect. Some scenes are almost too painful to speak of, and so the sound bows out as if doing so will somehow help. But even sound becomes helpless in the wake of this cruel maniac.

What Miike has created here is another example of this great director's scope. Though difficult to watch, for those of us that look for the nastiest methods by which to be moved by cinema, Graveyard of Honor will indeed be a moving presentation, moving us right up to the brink.
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