Izo

Izo (イゾー, 2004) is Takashi Miike's fantasy action film, available to watch online on iFILM. It springs from a real figure — Okada Izo, a hired killer who served the Tosa clan during Japan's late shogunate. After cutting down dozens of the shogun's men, he is captured and crucified. The body dies. The rage does not.

The crucified swordsman is hurled through space and time and surfaces in modern Tokyo — schools, offices, subway cars, ordinary people who have no idea what has arrived among them. From there Miike lets the film dissolve into a near-plotless flood: endless slaughter, jumps between eras, dreams and rambling monologues about power and violence. There is barely a story in the usual sense — just pure, churning fury.

Takeshi Kitano, kickboxer Bob Sapp and Kaori Momoi turn up in brief roles. This is late, deeply experimental Miike, closer to an art provocation than a normal genre piece. It won't suit everyone: it rewards viewers hunting for rule-breaking Japanese auteur cinema and frustrates anyone who needs a clear narrative. Stream Izo (2004) online on iFILM.