“100% Sadist”: Violence Is Sex in Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer

<jats:p>Takashi Miike’s cult film Ichi the Killer has become renowned for its audacious and extreme depiction of violence. A gangster film set in the world of the Japanese yakuza, it distinguishes itself by commenting directly on the genre’s inherent sadism. Through an excessively graphic style, the film highlights not only that the act of violence is central to the genre, but also that violence can be a source of pleasure. Thus, I will argue in this analysis that Miike’s Ichi the Killer represents violence not only as a highly erotic activity, but as replacing sex as a means of bodily pleasure. In this film Miike foregrounds the transgressive elements contained in representations of sadism, which highlight a radical crossing of the boundaries of sexuality, through the incorporation of pain, masochism, and the sexualization of previously “nonsexual” acts, objects, and body parts.</jats:p>