Rainy Dog (1997) User Reviews (29)

Miike goes noir

[djores · 8/10 · 7 December 2005]

Miike strays off the beaten path to do his own take on 'film-noir' (a tribute to Melville?): limited dialog, moody settings, and deliberately slow development all make for a unique movie in Miike's immense filmography.

As surprising for its subtlety, pace, and precision as for its lack of the standard Miike moments, it is definitely not the director's best (for that see "The Bird People of China", "Ichi the Killer" or "Gozu"), but a great movie for a rainy Sunday afternoon, naturally if you don't mind the occasional yakuza violence.

Could be read as the director's attempt at a character study (usually absent from his work) or an exercise in cinematic economy - in either case it is a movie well-above mediocrity, yet not quite reaching the level of masterpiece.

never gets soggy

[movieman_kev · 8/10 · 23 May 2005]

Yuji lives as a hit-man. One rainy night a girl he screwed awhile back bursts into his apartment tells him the kid she brought with her is his then leaves as quickly as she came. the second film in the loosely grouped together "Black Society Trilogy". "Rainy Dog" is a notable improvement on the first film "Shijuku Triad Society". While it was much slower and more introspective, it had a certain poetry to it that made it highly watchable. More akin to Miike's "Blues Harp" or "Graveyard of Honor" than his manic DOA films. And this one is better played straight.

My Grade: B+

DVD Extras: An EXTREMELY informative Commentary by Tom Mes (the guy really knows his stuff); 2 interviews with Takashi Miike; Yasushi Shimamura interview; Artwork; Bio/Filmograhies; and 2 theatrical Trailers

Raining Cats and Dogs

[machintim · 8/10 · 12 April 2006]

The story centres on a failed yakuza that has been exiled to Taiwan and now provides a hit man service for local gang leaders. The backdrop is a rainy Taipei which throughout the film is hated by all of the main characters and is seemingly impossible to escape from (Interesting from a Japanese film maker). The hit man, Yuuji, (Sho Aikawa) has his life turned upside down by the arrival of his supposed son who is cast off by his mother, a woman Yuuji doesn't remember in any detail. Eventually paired up with a prostitute he meets along the way they are offered an escape from the lives they appear to hate. The story is brilliantly told both through a cinematography and script. The locations and indeed the weather play an important role in setting a mood and reflecting the troubled lives of the main characters. Yuuji and chen, Yuuji's son, (Played by Lianmei Chen) work together brilliantly. Chen is a mute but the thoughtful and pragmatic performance by Lianmei Chen means this does not hinder the empathy you can feel for the character. Sho Aikawa, although he has most of the screen time and very little script, plays Yuuji to perfection. This film is another example of why Miike is well respected as a film maker. The usual blood and revenge storyline is there, but with a plot that you need to see played out in full and characters who you care for throughout. It is an excellent example of how a film should be made to incorporate gripping drama into an ultra violent gangster movie. I would recommend anyone to watch Rainy Dog, it may not be typical Mike but it is defiantly Miike Gold.

Gritty gangster drama about family and retribution.

[ThreeSadTigers · 29 December 2007]

Rainy Dog will no doubt come as a big surprise to many casual viewers of the work of Takashi Miike; featuring none of the over-the-top violence, sadism and hyper-kinetic surrealism of his more iconic pictures, such as Ichi the Killer, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Gozu and Dead or Alive.

Instead, Rainy Dog is an incredibly bleak, brooding, deliberately paced and entirely authentic gangster drama; focusing on the well-worn themes of love, life, family, responsibility, honour and retribution. The films tells the story of Yuuji; an exiled Japanese Yakuza living hand to mouth in a Taiwanese slum, trying to make ends meat by carrying out various hits for the local Triads so that he can afford to buy a fake passport to get him self back to Japan. If this wasn't difficult enough, his life is further complicated by the arrival of a small boy, who is literally dumped on Yuuji's doorstep and introduced as his son. This forces our central protagonist to think more specifically about his life and future; as his purgatory-like existence in this neon-lit jungle hell - plagued by constant rain and bursts of matter-of-fact violence - threatens a single fate of bloody retribution.

As the previous reviewer noted, the film is probably closer in tone to the work of someone like "Beat" Takeshi Kitano, with the deliberate pacing of the narrative and preoccupations with character and tone really carrying the film above the more dramatic moments of action. That said, the film is hardly an anomaly within Miike's rich back-catalogue of works; suggesting the quiet, almost serene moments of films like The Bird People in China, Ley Lines and indeed, the first hour of his masterpiece Audition.

It's wrong to think of Miike as a shallow provocateur; desperately trying to shock the viewer with more and more outlandish moments from film to film. Simply put; the man is a serious talent... as comfortable with straight crime dramas like Shinjuku Triad Society, Agitator and the film in question, as he is with more personal, idiosyncratic projects like Visitor Q, Gozu and The Happiness of the Katakuris. Rainy Dog might not be the film that I watch again and again - lacking the sheer audacity and room for multiple interpretations offered by the latter collection of films - but at the same time, it adds a great deal of depth to Miike's reputation as a highly skilled and highly talented filmmaker away from all the shock-value and occasional lapses of self-parody.

Rainy Dog is dark, moody, uncompromising film-noir at its finest; all wonderfully atmospheric, nicely shot and subtly acted (particularly by the three main leads who come to take on the personification of the "family" central to the thoughts and feelings of the main character). True, it may not be the greatest film that Miike has ever made, or indeed, one that is indicative of his trademark style, but it is, regardless, one that remains an enjoyable if somewhat slow-moving crime drama that shows Miike's capability of working with a variety of different acting styles (from child to adult, domestic to foreign, professional to amateur), whilst simultaneously placing further emphasis on the idea of character, rather than spectacle.

A dog that swims well in the city of rain

[MiztaBungle · 7/10 · 14 June 2004]

Director Takeshi Miike takes a break from his usual trademark ultra-violent comic book style action to bring us this slow paced, yet interesting drama, portraying an ex-Yakuza hit-man exiled to Taiwan for reasons unknown. The rain throughout the movie not only sets the mood but also symbolises the monotony of normal, everyday life felt by the protagonist as a contrast to his previous life as a Yakuza. Coming to terms with his new life, he does small time hits for a local gang and manages to maintain some stability and a sense of purpose in the otherwise meaningless existence of a hit-man. However, his world is turned upside down when a woman he doesn't remember leaves him with a child who is supposedly his. As he goes about his business of contract kills, his newly acquired 'son' follows him with fascination, observing and mentally clinging onto his alleged father in a cold, lonely and rainy city. Things get even more twisted when he befriends a prostitute and here starts the mingling of this unlikely trio, a subtle touch, typical of the twisted world of Miike. Overall, a heart warming yet poignant drama depicting the harshness of life, comparable to Luc Besson's Leon or Takeshi Kitano's Kikujiro no natsu.

Atmospheric noir lacking in the creativity department

[goldenhairedone · 6/10 · 5 December 2004]

Being a mild fan of Takashi Miike, I was excited to find this noir-like Yakuza film. In many ways I got what I expected, which was the problem. Sho Aikawa, from the Miike's DOA trilogy, plays the cold blooded hit-man with, of course, very little to say. He lives in Tapai, a place which is run by gangs and, assuming from this movie, has rain coming down all the time. We meet the main protagonist as he discovers that he has a son, who refuses to even talk at all, and our loner assassin is forced to take care of the child. He later befriends a prostitute who wants to get out of this rainy hell, who, along with the child, becomes an agitator for change in the hit-man's tired lifestyle.

Interspersed through the film are a considerable amount of violent scenes but they are done in a classy manner, with very little Miike excess. This is very befitting of this movie's subdued style. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few notable scenes, this film goes in all the directions that one would expect from yet another movie about a quiet hit-man on the road of redemption. But if you can look past the absence of originality, you'll find a moody Takashi Miike film with very little compromise.

6/10

It was a long time ago. I can't even remember her name.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 18 March 2009]

Those looking for the extreme violence and gore of Ichi The Killer will be disappointed in Takashi Miike's neo-noir effort. You cannot depend on Miike to do the same thing every time. From gore to children's films to a horror musical, he continues to stretch, but he never disappoints. With Seigo Inoue (Zero Woman: Assassin Lovers) writing, we get a character study instead of extreme violence.

With Sho Aikawa (Kairo) in the lead as an assassin who now has a child dumped on his doorstep, he has to change his life. He realizes that his loneliness will eventually kill him, so he begins to care for boy.

He doesn't do so well at first; sleeping in a whorehouse while his son sleeps outside under cardboard and eats out of the garbage. But, he does manage to get enough money on his next hit to pay the whore (Lianmei Chen) to look after his son.

He gets double-crossed and they are all on the run, but not before they start acting like a family.

What an ending. Just when you think it will be resolved the way you want it, Miike throws a curve ball.

Masterpiece!

[jtourbro · 10/10 · 23 October 2003]

I've been a Miike fan for quite some time, and truly love his wild and crazy approach to film making. But this movie proves that he can also do serious films, and better than many serious directors. It is part 2 of his Triad society trilogy, and once again his themes of outsiders and innocence vs. violence is very obvious. The story is about a japanese hitman (beautifully down-played by Sho Aikawa) who has immigrated to taiwan. At the beginning a woman shows up at his doorstep and leaves a boy, whom she claims is his. The hitman doesn't really acknowledge the boy, and simply goes about his business (which mainly consists of killing people). But the boy follows him everywhere, and when the hitman later develops a sort of relationship with a prostitute, the three slowly grows closer, and become like a sort of family. The movie is very melancholic and has a tremendously moving atmosphere. It is completely rinsed of the usual Miike insanity and it actually works really well. It reminded me very much of Jarmusch, right down to the Neil Young-like slide guitar that makes up the soundtrack. If you've only seen his "crazy"-films you should really give this one a chance, since it really proves what an absolutely brilliant director this man is. "Rainy Dog" is with out doubt a masterpiece in modern cinema, and is even more impressive coming from the hands of the guy who brought us Ichi the Killer, Fudoh, Happiness of the Katakuris etc. etc. Takashi Miike continues to impress!

10/10

A More Traditional Noir

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 26 January 2017]

A Japanese assassin (Show Aikawa) stranded in Taiwan must take work from a local crime boss to make ends meet, when suddenly a woman from his past delivers a son to him. In a broad sense, the narrative follows in the tradition of Kenji Misumi's "Lone Wolf and Cub" (1972), as well as Luc Besson's "The Professional" (1994), which had a strong influence on Miike. In all three, a much-too-young child follows in the footsteps of a killer.

Show Aikawa, who also appears in Miike's "Ley Lines" (1999), may be best known to American audiences for his role in "Pulse" (2001). He is given the full weight of this film. Unlike Miike's earlier film "Shinjuku Triad Society", this is really a one man show, and Aikawa excels.

Also unlike the earlier film of the so-called Black Society Trilogy, this is a more "subdued" story, with a slower pace. We have the grit of assassins and prostitutes that you might expect from a noir or crime story. But the excessive, over-the-top violence that Miike is known for is all but absent here. What remains constant between the two is that sense of moral ambiguity. The depravity is not as strong, but the lines are just as blurry.

A film scholar could write a lengthy discourse on the symbolism in "Rainy Dog", especially on the title and the appearance of "dog themes". There is, of course, a literal dog out in the rain, but there is much more -- one character marks his territory as a dog would, there are instances of Chinese-Japanese "mutts". Even the idea of a professional killer could be seen as parallel with a hunting dog, doing his master's bidding.

The film had previously been released under the "Asia Extreme" banner, which was likely misleading for some consumers. For their Blu-ray, Arrow Video has Miike expert Tom Mes provide an all-new commentary (which is better than his commentary on "Shinjuku). Also, "Rainy Dog" gets bonus points for containing a nice nod to "Gamera".

Was it the Everly Brothers who were crying in the rain?

[Nyagtha · 9/10 · 2 June 2004]

Rainy Dog, part of Miike's Triad Society is a truly beautiful film. A lot of people are going to notice, and quite rightly, that it does not conform to the traditional Miike template. Instead it moves at a slow pace with long lingering shots of the rainy streets of Taipei. The action is restrained to only a few brief gun "battles" and a stabbing, but the film is not about violence. It is about the aftermath of violence. As one character says towards the end, it is about life, death and hate. There are no opportunities to glorify the violence and every murder carries with it intense and very real consequences.

The sound track flitters between Shinjuku Triad style electronic drum effects and keyboards and country style slide guitar which really hints at the films Western roots. Essentially it is a film about an outsider used to fending for himself who is forced to care about another person and in doing so realize the value of his own life. This is not a new format and is a storyline you can find in variation in many John Wayne movies, the difference here is that I bet you won't be expecting it in a film by the man who brought the world Fudoh or Ichi the Killer.

Before his turn in Dead or Alive, Sho Aikawa turns up here as ultra cool ex-Yakuza, Yuuji, who has retired to the back alleys of Taipei to earn money as a hit-man. Early on in the film a young child is left in his house by an unknown woman. At the heart of the film, and it is a genuine heart, is the relationship between Aikawa's character and his supposed son. Without wanting to give anything anyway, it is the developments between the two which make the final scene one of the most tense scenes I have seen in film for a long time. Rarely is an audience allowed to sympathies and care for characters in a film like Rainy Dog yet it is as if Miike deliberately wants to alter our expectations. It is through caring about the characters that you realize you want them to live happily ever after.

Tomorowo Taguchi, returning from his role as the psychotic Wang in Shinjuku Triad Society has a minor but important role in Rainy Dog. His obsessive pursuit of Sho Aikawa which we see has destroyed his life mirrors intelligently Aikawa's character who is also letting his obsessions drive him to ruin. Taguchi I consider to be one of the best Japanese actors in the last decade, he is certainly one of the most prolific, and here his meagre five or six scenes are infused with an energy which helps motivate the rest of the film. I am looking forward to the next film I see with him in.

I believe that Miike had to produce this film with a largely non-Japanese crew, it is a testament to his bravery as a film maker (I dare say few directors would risk such a venture) that Rainy Dog looks and feels as it does. There are a few moments when the sound does not quite match the action (check out Aikawa beating up Taguchi early in the film for some of the most bizarre punching sound effects) but the film as a whole does not suffer. I do not know whether it was a lack of Japanese crew and skills that led Miike to make a slower movie, if so, his ability to compensate is second-to none. Instead of trying to make viewers vomit (no sick bags dispensed at viewings of this film) Miike has done something that only Japanese directors seem willing to do (Takeshi Kitano or Takashi Ishii are prone to this) and that is to promote thought and feeling during a film that is essentially a "mobster" movie. There are few forgettable scenes and some are utterly heart wrenching (Aikawa sleeping indoors with a prostitute whilst his son sleeps under a blanket with a dog in the rain).

In honesty there is little I can say against Rainy Dog. It is a superb film, a moving film and one which will make you think long and hard. Above all else it will, like most Miike films, reinforce your sense of relief that somewhere there is someone with a brain making films with a brain. And a hell of a lot of style too.

All The Smart Reviews Have Already Been Written

[bshanley-61461 · 7/10 · 29 March 2021]

So let me do the observational part. 1. The second the lighter went into the pocket, I knew what would happen. Things like that don't happen for no reason in movies. That cost 1/2 star. 2. Speaking of cliches, you knew the silence would break. Another 1/2 star. 3. So this is the film from which Tarantino plagiarized the Bride's line to the little girl in Kill Bill, v.1. 4. I couldn't shake the idea that the guy was Charlie Sheen. He needs a voice coach.

Another great movie from Takashi Miike

[simon_booth · 10/10 · 13 December 2002]

Rainy Dog is one of four movies that Takashi Miike shot in 1997, and is the second part of his "Shinjuku Triad Society" trilogy. I am not sure what connection it has to parts 1 & 3 - being set in Shinjuku certainly isn't one of them though, as it is set and filmed in Taipei, Taiwan. It also works perfectly well as a stand alone movie.

Rainy Dog is a movie about a yakuza who has ended up in Taipei, apparently on the run from some gang or other. He works as a hitman for a local boss and tries to stay out of the rain. Apparently it rains a *lot* in Taipei. He forms the beginnings of a family when a woman he slept with many years ago turns up and announces that the mute kid she dumps on him is his.

Rainy Dog is quite an unusual movie for Takashi Miike, being almost totally free of the extreme, unusual and shocking elements for which his work is known. The movie is played pretty much straight, just focussing on old fashioned elements like characters, script, cinematography and symbolism. Not a lot of dialogue (Yuuji barely speaks more than his kid), but when people do speak it is quite thoughtful and insightful.

Rainy Dog is one of Takashi Miike's most technically accomplished films. The cinematography and soundtrack are excellent and editing superb. Despite the fact that most of the cast is speaking Mandarin, which I doubt Miike speaks, he is able to elicit excellent performances from everybody.

Rainy Dog is an artful kind of gangster movie, gently paced and philosophical. It's the closest Miike has come to making a Takeshi Kitano movie (it even has the requisite scene at the sea). It doesn't have anything that really leaps out and grabs the viewer by the balls like other movies such as Dead Or Alive, Visitor Q, Happiness Of The Katakuris or Full Metal Gokudo, but it's probably one of his most well balanced films.

Recommended!

Unique lethargic melancholy set in a rainy Taiwan

[kluseba · 7/10 · 29 April 2017]

Rainy Dog is the second film in Takashi Miike's Black Society Trilogy that focuses on foreign gangsters with inner struggles that are trying to find a purpose in life. Despite a similar topic, Rainy Dog is very different from the first film Shinjuku Triad Society.

The first movie focused on Chinese-born Japanese gangsters and police officers that were fighting each other in Tokyo's flashy suburb. This movie here focuses on a Japanese gangster who had to leave the country and settle in Taiwan after committing a crime.

While the first movie focuses on a more complex plot, includes numerous characters and relies on quite brutal action sequences, this second film is almost an antithesis of the predecessor. Rainy Dog focuses on the solitary main character who works as a hit-man for a local gangster boss after his Japanese boss got killed in his absence. He ultimately tries to run away from his depressing everyday life. The solitary main character is followed by a mute boy that was dropped at his desolate dwelling by a woman the main character had sexual intercourse with many years ago but whose name he doesn't even remember and who claims that he is his son. This unusual duo teams up with a prostitute that wants to start a new life. The trio gets tracked down by three parties: another Japanese hit-man who was asked to avenge the crime that forced the main character to leave his home country, the friends and family members of a guy the main character executed in Taiwan and even the Taiwanese gangster boss the main character was working for in the beginning of the movie that decided to betray him.

Rainy Dog is a quite revealing title because the main character and those who follow him behave, feel and run way like beaten dogs. In addition to this, it's almost constantly raining throughout the entire movie which adds to the desperate, melancholic and monotonous tone of the movie. Most scenes are set on abandoned beaches, in dark back alleys, in muddy forests and in small impersonal dwellings. This lethargic atmosphere is a little bit harder to digest than the vivid predecessor but it gives the film a very own style. The minimalist acting, the short dialogues and the desolate landscapes only add to this unique approach. The acting performances might be restricted at first sight but that was clearly the director's intention and it's actually quite interesting how the emotionless main character very slowly opens up to not only accepting but even feeling sympathy for the boy that might be his son and the prostitute that is his soulmate.

The gloomy atmosphere from start to finish leads to a very fitting ending that you wouldn't get in a Hollywood movie and that even some of the actors involved disliked as you can hear and see in the additional interview included on this disc of the Black Society Trilogy package that has been released earlier this year. Personally, I really liked this movie's conclusion.

In my opinion, Rainy Dog convinces with its profound atmosphere and three main characters that are as flawed as they are fascinating. The downside of the movie is its plot that is average at best and the mostly static action sequences that fail to add some much-needed punch to the lethargic movie. Fans of original Yakuza flicks and director Takashi Miike should give this film a try. Occasional fans of gangster movies can skip the second part of the Black Society Trilogy.

Dull and dreary character piece

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 28 December 2017]

RAINY DOG is another Yakuza story from the prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike and an unconnected follow-up of sorts to his SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY. This one tells the tale of a Japanese assassin who now lives in Taiwan, eking out a living performing jobs for a local crime boss. The film has a grim and depressing feel to it, and is also very slow paced without much of the directorial style or vibrant action we've come to expect from the director. Instead it's a world of nihilism and nastiness, full of driving rain and abuse. The film's heart involves the main character's relationship with his son, an estranged boy who is thrown into his care without warning. I found the experience dull and dreary and lacking imagination, not one of the director's better films.

'Rainy Dog' is a slow, atmospheric character study, very serious and dark in tone. Don't expect Miike's trademark ultra-violent action and crazy humour.

[Infofreak · 12 April 2004]

One of the first Takashi Miike movies I ever saw was 'Dead Or Alive' and shocked me because it didn't play by "the rules", adding unexpected surreal touches to the violent yakuza thriller genre. I reacted very negatively to the movie at the time, but I subsequently grew to admire it the more I got into Miike's groove. Now that I'm familiar with Miike's more extreme movies like 'Ichi The Killer' and 'Visitor Q' I'm prepared for just about anything, but I was once again a bit nonplussed the first time I watched 'Rainy Dog'. Not because it was outrageous, but because it wasn't. 'Rainy Dog' is nothing like Miike's other early yakuza movies like 'Fudoh: The New Generation' and 'Full Metal Yazuza'. Anyone expecting the ultra-violent action and crazy humour of those two will be disappointed. Instead 'Rainy Dog' is a slow, atmospheric character study, very serious and dark in tone. Miike regular Sho Aikawa plays Yuuji a low level hit man exiled in Tawain. Yuuji is depressed from the relentless rain and becoming increasingly alienated. He sees no reason to his monotonous existence. One day a former lover (his wife?) turns up with a young boy (his child? It's not clear) who she dumps. Yuuji ignores the child who camps outside his flat and tags along on his hits. The boy seems to slowly humanize him, as does a prostitute he becomes involved with, but perhaps it is too late. Yuuji's life of violence is about to catch up with him. Miike makes great use of the rain soaked locations, and the movie is interesting for the fact that apart from Aikawa and another one of his regular actors Tomorowo Taguchi the cast is Tawainese and much of the dialogue is in Mandarin. The soundtrack regularly features a Ry Cooder-like slide guitar, and overall the movie has more in common with Takeshi Kitano's yakuza movies that Miike's. 'Rainy Dog' isn't one of Miike's most outrageous movies but it's still recommended and shows a more thoughtful side to this amazing director.

Conventional...for Takashi Miike

[redrobin62-321-207311 · 6/10 · 14 January 2020]

If another director was attached to this film, I'd say it was pretty good. Considering that the supremely unconventional Takashi Miike helmed it, it's fairly disappointing. To be sure, "Rainy Dog" was an interesting gangster tale. Nothing about it had that Miike extreme flair, though. There was a lot of rain, so if that soothes your nerves, this film would definitely work for that, otherwise, there really isn't much to distinguish it from other crime/mob fare. See if you're a Miike completionist like me, otherwise skip it.

Something different from a master

[orsonlovespeas · 10/10 · 11 April 2006]

Rainy Dog is certainly different from traditional Miike fare. The pacing is slower, there are many more thoughtful and specific moments, and the violence is not highly stylized. It is, rather, quick and realistic in a world where one well placed bullet can kill a man. It's about a gangster who hates it when it rains, who has no idea how to be a father or proper lover and ends up having to try and be all these things while committing hits for his boss. Some of the best moments in this film are the silences, as communication (or lack there of) is a common theme. There are also some truly touching and sad moments, especially with little Cheng and well, a rainy dog. A protagonist who doesn't want his current life and can't even be considered necessarily likable. He has no glitz and glory. He is patronized by his boss, lives in a shabby home, and walks right by his mute son even as he's about to perform a job. All this builds layer upon layer in these characters. Well edited and fantastic direction, certainly showing that Miike, while brilliant for his sensationalism and unrelenting style, can also play to a more common path, and yet still be able to be elevated among most. A beautiful and sad film. Highly recommended.

Rain is bad luck

[Atavisten · 9/10 · 23 September 2007]

The same day as watching Shinjuku Triad Society I continued with this one. It was a Japanese film special and I didn't read any background info before the movie whatsoever, but after STS (and Kuroshiya Ichi a month before) I decided to give a miss to all Miike films. Luckily I did not know this was Miike.

This was really a surprise noir after the no substance of the previous mentioned. A yakuza goes to Taiwan and works as a hit-man when suddenly his son is dumped upon him, a son he didn't know he had and doesn't want to have either. I don't want to give away much but the movie is dense with atmosphere and humour, it's easily his best alongside Audition, Birdpeople of China and The Negotiator. Akin for Takeshi Kitano, but definitely Miike.

Almost on a par with Melville's "Le Samourai"

[MOscarbradley · 9/10 · 1 November 2017]

This strange movie about a Japanese hit-man stranded in Taiwan and saddled with a young son he didn't know he had would probably sit comfortably on a double-bill with Cassavetes' "Gloria" though this is a lot more enigmatic. It was the second film in what became known as Takashi Miike's Shinjuku Triad Trilogy and it has a slightly mystical quality you may not associate with the director. Personally there were times I found it hard to get a handle on the plot and if you are looking for a typical Miike picture you will probably be disappointed. The title, "Rainy Dog" is certainly apt since it rains here more than in almost any movie I can think of. As the mostly silent, philosophical killer Sho Aikawa is excellent and his performance should remind you of Alain Delon in Melville's "Le Samourai", (this movie is almost in the same class). It is certainly sufficiently unusual to command attention and is far from the usual run-of-the-mill Yakuza flic.

one of Miike's first non-Gonzo Yakuza thrillers is often excellent

[Quinoa1984 · 9/10 · 10 October 2008]

I'd heard many good things about Rainy Dog, the 2nd installment in the "Black Society" trilogy that Takashi Miike directed (others include very good Shinjuku Triad Society and the great Ley Lines), that I was glad that most of my expectations were met. What specifically they all were I can't all remember, but what's impressive about the picture- all shot in China during the rainy season, obviously- is how the material grew on me, how I found myself connected after a while with the characters' plight into their own horror, and that there were some tender moments when they finally connected. Its premise could have been shoddy or just repetitive of other pictures (yakuza hit-man in semi-exile in China gets a kid dropped on him that he didn't know what his while doing odd jobs here and there), but Miike treats it seriously, as well as with the violent content, and it's possibly the first really interesting picture of Miike's concerning fathers and sons.

The setting itself is murky and drab, perfect for a kind of symbolic mode of the character played by Sho Aikawa (often going bat-s*** in Miike's films like the DOA series, here more subtle and downbeat, maybe a once bad-ass now on hard times), and there's even hints of the neo-realist period when seeing those scenes where the little boy is stuck in the alley, for days on end as Aikawa is held up with the hooker in the house, scrounging for garbage and shelter and a lone dog. Miike is careful in directing these scenes between Aikaway and the boy, who is deaf and dumb and becomes witness by proxy of unadulterated attachment to the 'hits' his father has to do, but at first I wasn't entirely sure of Miike's motives in such simple stuff that dragged on like a kid following his father around the streets.

By the third act, when the boy and father and the hooker are all on the run from some p-o'd mobsters, then it really gains in fascination and the humanity of this plight. I loved one little moment when the boy finds the motorcycle in the sand and Aikawa, who is reluctant to join in with the boy and the woman to get it out, joins in and there's a moment of sheer happiness in the midst of the gloom and despair (or, conversely, that shattering revelation when the child screams in the climax). And there are other little moments as well, including those when Miike has to show the violence and, as in a Graveyard of Honor project, it's nothing really funny or outrageous: it just is, and it fits in with the dire state of affairs in the rain, which never ever stops. It's a director knowing how to maneuver the material well- if occasionally dipping into the pretentious- and crafting an appealing tale amidst a foreign setting. While maybe too depressing for most, it is a sign of the director working at full force of his powers, if not entirely at a great-film mode.

Rainy Dog Review.

[Ben-Hibburd · 8/10 · 16 November 2017]

I'm happy I can finally say now that I've watched a great Takashi Miike film. Rainy Dog retains all the gritty, stylish motifs that Miike is known for, but this time his story is grounded in reality. Rainy Dog tells the story of a struggling Japanese hit-man that hates the rain as he's living out in Taiwan. His world is upheaved when a woman from his past informs him that he has a son, which she dumps on him.

The film then goes from being a gangster flick into a hybrid coming of age story as both the father and son as they adapt to their situation. Whilst the father is also trying to evade a local crime boss who's after him. Rainy Dog is a quiet, slow paced introspective film. This film worked well for me as i'm not a fan of Miike's usually hyper-kinetic direction and the over the top silliness that's found in most of his screenplays. This film has an engaging narrative, even if it borders occasionally on clichés that are found in the gangster genre. There's nothing wholly original in this film. However what makes it work though is how well directed the film is and the serious thoughtful approach given to the script.

The films cinematography has a wonderful atmospheric tone, the whole film is literally drenched in rain which adds another layer on emotion on top of the film. The film also has fleshed out interesting characters, that whilst flawed, they're also sympathetic and relatable. One of the main issue I have with Miike's films are the poor characterisations, most of the time his characters feel like cartoons. Here he goes a great job of making them feel human. In the end Rainy Dog is a familiar but effective crime drama, and is one of Miike's best films.

One of Miike's best films, very underrated

[katalist420 · 10/10 · 6 February 2023]

As part of a great trilogy, you would expect this one to get talked about more, but I rarely see it come up in chats about Miike's Yakuza movies.

Rainy Dog is a slow burn of a Yakuza flick but its soooo well done. From the pacing, to the acting, to the direction, its top notch Takashi Miike here.

Also a big shoutout to the camera work and locations picked for this movie, many scenes that would be basic in most movies are done to perfection in this movie.

I don't want to spoil anything so I will just say this is a wonderful Yakuza film with alot of heart. Yes its basic in some ways but it also has a ton of depth.

If you can get a copy of this please check it out, for me Rainy Dog is up there with Audition and Gozu as my Top 3 personal favorite movies from Takashi Miike (I own over 45 of his movies and have seen over 70).

One of the best movies from one of the best directors of all time. Some people think this director is only about violence which is so silly, he has so much more to his movies than just the violence and Rainy Dog is a perfect example.

Wondrously melancholy Takashi Miike noir gangster tale

[BrianThibodeau · 9/10 · 25 August 2004]

RAINY DOG (1997) Slick, comparitively subdued, wondrously melancholy Takashi Miike noir gangster tale, the second in the Triad Society Trilogy, about a Japanese hitman (Sho Aikawa)working for a triad boss in a seedy Taipei where it rains almost perpetually. Handed custody of his young son by his fleeing wife, he goes about his nasty business as if the kid's not even there, leaving him to root through garbage for food and sleep in alleys. A prostitute, on whom he tries to dump the kid, eventually joins him and, for a while, an ersatz family begins to form, but the brother of a slain gangster comes looking for revenge. I give it a 9.

A slow but hauntingly beautiful hitman drama.

[lyle-5 · 10/10 · 1 August 1999]

With Rainy Dog, Director Takashi Miike has taken everyone by surprise, in Japan and elsewhere. After the hyperactive and insanely bloody Fudoh (1996), he has become one of the most respected directors of contemporary Japanese cinema. Rainy Dog is a dark thriller, a slow and oppressive film noir, constantly animated by a uniquely graceful poetry. Recently, Miike has shown the world just how much his films fit within the cinema of exile. Rainy Dog is certainly a part of this, because it was shot entirely in Taiwan (you'll recognize some familiar faces from Taiwanese cinema, especially actors from Hou Hsiao-hsien's films) and features only two Japanese actors. After Takeshi Kitano, "Yakuza Cinema" has found a new master. For Japan, it has found a new poet for its society. (J. F.)

we wrestle with the characters wrestling with their own survival

[christopher-underwood · 9/10 · 17 February 2019]

A great film! It may not be the wham bam, crash bang, fastest film from Miike but it has its own driving force and momentum that carries the story forward as we wrestle with the characters wrestling with their own survival. For a film made outside his own country and with a largely Taiwanese crew this is a remarkable achievement. It struck me as wrong that from time to time I found myself reflecting on the way the film had been made instead of being totally absorbed but it is just that there is such beauty here, such constant and torrential rain and such difficult terrain, be it a warren of 'piss alleys' or a barren beach or precarious roof tops, that it is impossible not to gasp at just what the guy achieves, seemingly with such ease, and such speed.