GUENOT PHILIPPE I have already seen many of Miike Takashi's films and I can't find what is really is own style. He has no style of his own, but that doesn't mean he is flat, or uninteresting, far from that. He is like a chameleon, he can give us comedies, horror movies, dramas, thrillers, crime films. And if you watch for instance SHIELD OF STRAW and this one or RAINY DOG, you will never notice anything in common between those three crime flicks. So, I don't even speak if you compare with comedies or ordinary dramas...I will try to get every Miike Takashi film available, even those not in France. This one I comment now is very interesting, the other viewers have done it far better than I should do. The thing I find very offbeat is the music score. It is a sort of French music as we found in eighties French crime features, especially for TV audiences. For instance if you see, one day, some films made for the Series NOIRE TV show, you'll notice this kind of music. Very very strange. Accordion music for a Japanese crime film. Only Miike Takashi can give us this. Maybe a sort of tribute to France from which he was excited by Jean-Pierre Melville, one of his masters. This is finally that the Miike Takashi's style. He has NO style.

Infofreak Takashi Miike's reputation as one of the most exciting and innovative directors in the world continues to grow as more of his work becomes available outside Japan on DVD. 2001 was without a doubt a watershed year for him, seeing the release of 'Visitor Q', 'Ichi The Killer' and 'The Happiness Of The Katakuris'. Each one of them was very different in style and content but each in its own way was astonishing. To think that one man could make all three in the same year blows your mind, but when you see he also made OTHERS, well I'm almost speechless... 'Agitator' is one of those other 2001 projects, and (of course) it's nothing like the aforementioned. Viewers who love say 'Fudoh: The New Generation' or 'Ichi The Killer' might find 'Agitator' a bit too slow and conventional, but those who are familiar with any of his moody Shinjuku Triad Society trilogy ('Shinjuku Triad Society', 'Rainy Dog', 'Ley Lines') will feel right at home. The movie is a bit of an epic, dealing with power struggles among crime families after one of their leaders dies, and strongly features themes of loyalty and betrayal. This is familiar Miike territory, but 'Agitator' doesn't include any of surreal interludes or zany ultra-violence of some of his more notorious work, so newcomers should perhaps look elsewhere for a first taste (I suggest 'Fudoh: The New Generation'). However, if like me you are hooked, and are dying to watch any Miike movie you can get your hands on, you won't be disappointed. It may not be as amazing as his three 2001 classics, but it's still a very good movie, solidly directed and well acted.

Jay Black Those of you who are familiar with Takashi Miike's typical fare will be surprised by how restrained this yakuza saga is, in comparison to the frenetic, ultra-violent & surreal Dead Or Alive trilogy, Ichi The Killer or the recent Gozu. This one takes a fair bit of time to get going and could have benefited with a bit of pruning, but it's to Miike's credit that it never becomes tedious. Although the pace is slow by Miike's standards, it at least gives us time to get properly acquainted with the characters. It can be confusing at first as we try to figure out which characters are affiliated with which gangs, but the director leaves us enough breathing space to make sense of what's going on before the sh*t really hits the fan in the final hour of the film. Agitator was Miike's fourth film of 2001, filmed in between Ichi The Killer & Happiness Of The Katakuris. It doesn't compare to the demented genius of either film, of course, and is not recommended to anyone seeking the usual insanity this director's name promises. In fact, the closest this movie comes to Miike's usual sick black humour is a scene where some gangsters terrorise a nightclub: the ringleader humiliates one of the clubgirls by repeatedly ramming a microphone up her bottom (shades of Visitor Q). Unsurprisingly, this character is played by Miike himself. In conclusion, this is a slow-burning, but engrossing gangster flick if you're in the mood. It's a good example of Miike's diversity & range (amazing that a film as carefully constructed and intricately plotted as this can be knocked out so quickly), but is probably best left to dedicated fans of this unique director.

zwitsal I saw this movie as the last movie during the Rotterdam Film Festival, and was positively surprised by a story of values, moral, and ethics in the Japanese mobster scene without getting top-heavy. Even though action can be slow by European and US standards, this gives the movie that extra vibe that you can't expect from the next Lethal Weapon.This could be a decent introduction into Japanese cinema, in the sense that it's not too heavy on the Japanese side, but still something a US director would never do (especially the slowed down shooting of one of the main characters leaves an impression).8/10