Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

MisterWhiplash Young Thugs: Innocent Blood is too disjointed to really be enjoyed as anything great, but Takashi Miike's film - the first of a two parter (the other being a prequel) - has enough moments to get by.It's really a lot of parts more than the whole as far as the entertainment ratio goes, but I'll remember some of those parts well, like a frustrated beaten young man punching his hand on a steel bar out of romantic frustration, or a woman yelling about wanting to just cry while totally drunk, or a man having fun with his friend as he removes part of a tattoo.I just wish there was more of a thru line with the characters and its a case where some of its episodic-ness isn't to its benefit. And the ending is just flipping crazy, going from action, suspense, comedy and then bizarre tragedy. I shouldn't like it and the humor is sophomoric, but it is maybe the most Miike-esque part of all. plus dramatically it's always well directed, confidence of someone not a director of only a few films as he was up till this point

sc8031 This is a pretty entertaining Miike film which suffers mainly from an anti-climatic and slow storyline. It is still quite entertaining and contains several distinct Miike touches, but the compelling nature of the characters and their locale is somewhat hurt by the strange pacing and repetitive activity. The storyline centers around Riike and his relationship with his high-school sweetheart, Ryoko, soon after the two leave high-school. Riike is now a petty street-mobster who makes a living protecting street vendors and low-level gamblers while Ryoko works in a hair salon. The film investigates how the violent side of Riike's personality is necessary for him to maintain close relationships with his friends and girlfriend.The movie takes place in a neighborhood of Osaka, Miike's hometown, and is shot mostly with local actors. It's interesting that most of the guys in this film are notably un-handsome, while the girls are typically attractive. The film actually comedically riffs on this a couple of times.And the comedy here is pretty good. The movie is a weird mix of slapstick and goofy comedy, non-lethal violence and occasional tragedy -- typically eccentric Miike. No single element is too affecting and perhaps that is why the movie falls a little short. I do admire Miike's versatility and ability to play each angle against each other -- at times it is even reminiscent of Takeshi Kitano's direction. This is not a total surprise considering Kitano has appeared in at least a couple of Miike films.The acting here is competent, but not exactly powerhouse stuff, but then again I wouldn't expect that from the material. It's an entertaining look at the lives of several mischievous teens after they've left high school and the story contains some auto-biographical elements of both the director and writer (Osaka natives). It's entertaining but the pacing holds it back occasionally. Still Miike proves himself pretty versatile and the charming jokes and random Dada-esquire vignettes won me over (the search for 67 degrees, for instance). I'll certainly be interested in checking out the other films in the same series.

davidevoid I have just received both Young Thugs Innocent Blood and Young Thugs Nostalgia, i have just watched Innocent Blood and have yet to see Nostalgia so that film may blow this one out of the water! hahaha! But yeah, a brilliant film, it's full of things of interest and is of the more 'nice' films that Miike does, like DOA2. It's a really warm film with some really nice subtle cinematography that breathes life into the images that Miike constructs. It has a really nice golden colour through out which isn't too over the top that it gets in the way but clear enough as to explain the film on a purely colour basis, this is a film of memory and childhood, it really doesn't deserve the 18 rating it has, it's insane that it has that to be honest! The one thing i'd say is a little off putting, which is the music, it's VERY cheesy and genetic and pulls the film down in respects, but on the other hand it very much fits in with the innocence of the whole movie.It's a movie that, although very 'easy' and innocent, it has a lot of depth and aspects of interest such as the construction of the film and how it is told, the editing, the characters, and how it relates to other films by the director. I'd really really really recommend this title to anyone who doesn't just take Miike as a place to be horrified, he's never been about exploitation and hey, this is pretty far away from that sort of thing.

lleeheflin In the last 3 months I have bought and watched 21 Miike films. I am a FAN!! I just watched this one tonight, and so far it, and FULL METAL YAKUZA are my least favorites. In general I am not a fan of movies about the trials and tribulations of 18/19 year olds, and to my mind the ones in this film were more boring than most. Only a couple of them (2 of the guys) had any real 'character' to speak of. While the girls were, for the most part, all hair and blank stares. Their lives started out 'no where' and ended 'no where' with very little in between. For a Miike film, even the cinematography was rather boring. On the other and the use of 'Western' music to try and give some 'life' to all the non-action was very well done. (Miike uses Western music to great effect in many of his films.) Which brings me to the one scene that totally transcended the rest of the film and made watching the whole thing worth the time spent. Having broken up with the least interesting of the 3 young men, one of the girls is forlornly riding a street car to the sound of flamenco guitar. The scene cuts to the bar/café where one of the other young men works as a cook. An older woman we had seen incidentally early in the film comes out from behind a curtain dressed in black sequins and rhinestones and starts to dance to the guitar music (which has continued to play), much to the amazement of the others in the bar. Her moves are OK but not great. The scene continues to cut back and froth from the girl on the street car becoming more and more despondent, to the woman dancing. Each time it cuts to the dancer her costume has become more and more authentic as does her dancing. Finally she has become totally transformed into an astonishing dancer of great power, while the young girl has become totally lost. The finale of this sequence is classic Miike!!! The whole thing was mesmerizing! But then we are dropped right back into the land of the boring. For another 30 or 40 minutes. Towards the end, Miike does throw in a moment of great fun, a kind of gloss on the American wild boys in a car theme. But that then trails off into the sappiest ending one could possibly imagine. If you want to see Miike do 'young people' and do it brilliantly then watch LEY LINES, CITY OF LOST SOULS, and BLUES HARP. These are some of his best films. Only if you are a die-hard Miike fanatic should you bother with this one.