Lollipop Magazine

Young Thugs: Nostalgia – Review

March 7, 2005

One of Takashi Miike’s best works. Set in the 1960s, it tells the story of Riichi, a poor kid with a jerkoff for a dad and a future that seems doomed.

Young Thugs: Innocent Blood – Review

March 7, 2005

A perceptive and even-handed study of how one boy’s troubled youth makes his inevitable maturation more complicated. Riichi returns from Young Thugs: Nostalgia.

The Black Society Trilogy – Review

March 7, 2005

Individually or as a three-DVD set, Takeshi Miike’s Black Society Trilogy is as good a cross-section of Miike’s signature Yakuza films as you’re going to find.

Shinjiku Triad Society – Review

March 7, 2005

Precisely what Takishi Miike fans expect: Blood, guts, depraved sex, overblown misogyny, Yakuza, more blood, tough guys, more guts…

Rainy Dog – Review

March 7, 2005

A subtle tale of almost accidental redemption and warped integrity, Rainy Dog is not the place to get your sex and violence fix. Thoughtful and almost sad.

Ley Lines – Review

March 7, 2005

Moody, silly, hopeful, and violent as all fucking get out, Ley Lines is the best of Takeshi Miike’s Black Society Trilogy films, but I wouldn’t watch it first.