Rainy Dog (1997) Review

“Rainy Dog” DVD Cover

Director: Takashi Miike
Writer: Seigo Inoue
Cast: Show Aikawa, Blackie Ko, Xianmei Chen, Zhang Shi, Jianqin He, Tomorowo Taguchi
Running Time: 95 min.

By Martin Sandison

Part of director Takashi Miike’s Triad society trilogy, Rainy Dog is a revelation; a quiet, slow moving meditation on innocence and the consequences of violence. Miike is of course synonymous with extreme cinema, especially his masterpieces Ichi The Killer and Audition. As much as I love those movies, Rainy Dog proves his ability to work on a serious level with real clarity and attention to detail. Shot in Taiwan with mostly a Taiwanese cast and crew, Miike does not speak Mandarin meaning that he was not able to communicate directly with either of them, but still manages to elicit wonderful performances.

Sho Aikawa stars as an ex-Yakuza hitman who has relocated to Taiwan, and lives in a modest apartment. One day a girl he slept with arrives with his supposed son, saying he has to look after the child. He takes on a job he shouldn’t have, and is pursued by Yakuza. He falls in with a prostitute and the three of them hideout from the gangsters. Despite a slight plotline everything falls in to place beautifully, and even minor characters are memorable. Tomorowo Taguchi has a small part, playing a strange guy that sleeps rough and wears a sharp suit who is obsessive in his pursuit of Aikawa, despite his motives never being explained. This was one of the many movies Taguchi appeared in that year, and he is one of the best character actors ever to come out of Japan. One of his first roles was in Tetsuo: The Iron Man, one of the greatest Cyberpunk horror movies ever made. I first watched that movie at the age of about 14, and its insane visuals made a huge impression on me. A couple of years ago I managed to catch it on the big screen in the Edinburgh Film Festival, and its impression was just as vital. Anyone that knows their Hong Kong cinema will notice Blackie Ko appearing as a brothel owner very briefly in Rainy Dog. Aikawa puts in perhaps his strongest performance in a Miike film, coming just before his deranged turn in Dead or Alive, another Miike classic that couldn’t be more different in tone from Rainy Dog.

The shooting style of the film is a marked departure for Miike; maybe this is partly due to the crew being Taiwanese, who mainly worked on the films of Hou Hsiao- Hsien, the maverick arthouse director. There are a lot of static shots in Rainy Dog, with characters framed through the pouring rain. The aesthetic is a lot more low key and quietly observed, with a slowly burning atmosphere. The films influences are a lot more plain to see than in other Miike films also. Wong Kar Wai’s films of the time such as Fallen Angels (one of my all-time favourites) with their late night ambience inform Rainy Dog, with even use of the stop printing technique so synonymous with Wong used in one scene. John Woo’s The Killer with Chow Yun Fat as the hitman with a heart of gold and dark city feel is echoed and incorporated with a much more grimy style. The violence is filmed in short bursts with one or two angles, worlds away from Woo’s elaborate dance. Aikawa’s monosyllabic performance and other characters recall classic Westerns, such as Sergio Leone’s masterful Dollars Trilogy. The blues slide guitar soundtrack reinforces this, and reminds me of Jim Jarmusch’s brilliant revisionist Western Dead Man that has a soundtrack by the genius Neil Young, my favourite musician. The look and feel of Takeshi Kitano’s gangster films, especially Sonatine, are reference points also, with their deliberately slow and symbolic style. All of these film makers inform the style of Rainy Dog, but Miike manages to rise above them and deliver a film very much his own.

In terms of pure film making Rainy Dog is definitely one of Miike’s best; every aspect combines to create an immersive experience and leave a lasting impression. The cinematography is clean and concise with no intrusive angles, and there are some beautiful tracking shots especially at the end of the film. The look is consistent and even in tone, no matter the location.

The characters in the film are incredibly well drawn and you really care for them, and Aikawa’s character really develops as he goes on from a violent, drug-taking loner to a man full of heart. Jianqin He as Aikawa’s supposed son Chen is a really hear wrenching character, and communicates complex emotions despite being a mute. Some of the scenes with He are particularly touching, one being when he is sleeping rough outside of Aikawa’s apartment and befriends a stray dog.

There are some minor problems with the picture overall, such as the lack of gunfights that would satisfy the action fan and an air of detachment in the first half. Also the persistent rain creates an aesthetic that can at times be over cooked. However those seeking a different kind of film from Miike will not be disappointed with Rainy Dog.

Martin Sandison’s Rating: 8/10