Tengoku kara kita otoko-tachi Reviews

Though not as flamboyantly weird as his masterpiece Dead or Alive, the director's Tengoku kara Kita Otokotachi (AKA The Guys from Paradise, 2001) is yet another enjoyably tweaked genre delivered with astonishing aplomb. Compared to some of his other films, particularly his ugly, mean-spirited Ichi the Killer, this film -- for a prison flick -- seems almost family fare. While his other works, such as City of Lost Souls, illustrate the plight of foreigners living in Tokyo, this film inverts this formula by showing Japan's place in the world at large. Guys from Paradise paints a lurid portrait of the Philippines -- a grubby, corrupt place that nevertheless has a vitality that Japan has forgotten during its push for economic prosperity. Miike artfully crystallizes this during Kohei's first exposure to his new place of residence; decked out in the fineries of the money-classed, Kohei is wide-eyed with revulsion at the grabbing desperate hands of his fellow Filipino inmates. Miike seems to argue that only by coming to terms with these savage yet distinctly Asian roots that Japan will be able to advance beyond the malaise of the 1990s, as made clear in the film's hoot of an ending. Though not one of this best works, Guys from Paradise is definitely worth a look.