This is definitely not for everyone, but if you have a thing for gangsters and old-school splatter B movies, go for it. After I saw the title coming out of a puddle of sperm in the opening sequence, I was already in love.

The film starts as a simple yakuza revenge story, but it gradually turns into the quintessential masochist’s quest for punishment. Ichi is idealized by Kakihara as the ultimate sadist that will finally give him what he wants, but things are not exactly as he imagined. The plot is a little confusing and way too over the place, but honestly, it just felt like a pretext to connect all torture and rape scenes. Violence is as graphic as it is cartoonish, and as you are enjoying it, you will start to feel as sadistic as Ichi.

The scene where Jijii strips off made me feel sorry for having made fun of Chris Evans’ CGI in the first Captain America film. Most memorable scene ever.