I'd hate to be one of those film school assholes yammering “fuck Hollywood” every chance he gets, but Takashi Miike comes as close as anyone ever will to inducing that attitude. Why can't Hollywood have an equivalent of this bastard? I think the closest it’s come in recent years is Paul Verhoeven (who's Starship Troopers is, coincidentally, one of Miike's favorite films). If Miike did work in Hollywood it’s likely his work, like much of Verehoven's, would be unappreciated. Also like Verhoeven, I have the suspicion that his works that hit closest to home would be the ones viewers dismiss. Which was the case with Showgirls (oh yeah for those of you who don't know, I love Showgirls in a non ironic way). But never mind the world of hypotheticals, this one is troubling enough as it is. The point I'm making is about Miike's relationship with western audiences. He directs several movies a year, yet his exposure is still limited. His two most well-known entries over here would probably be Audition and Ichi The Killer, two films I'd recommend to any horror fan. But problem with the fanbase these two films have is that they simplify both films. While both films have their stomach churning moments, there's a lot more going on. Audition in particular has hardly any horror elements for its entire first half. Miike has odd streak of humanism in all of his work, and to be fair guys like Eli Roth singing his praise hasn't exactly helped him escape that stereotype.
This is what brings me to the actual film.The plot is hard to summarize without spoilers but it concerns a younger popular teacher taking ruthless steps to contain the school's bullying problem. The final twenty minutes of the film are you most brutal you're likely to see among recent films, but it’s not one that neither invites the audience to revel in the violence or to alienate them. It’s a rare kind of brutality that forces the viewer to consider what's at being destroyed. Miike's humanity lies in showing the ripple effect of some of the simplest but most perverse human desires (in this sense he's actually like Buñuel). A film like his unsung masterpiece Izo (about a crucified samurai who travels through time) morphs from a series of violent vignettes into one of the purest embodiments of hatred on screen. This entry does the same thing, and it does so to maybe its most barbaric effect. And I think what makes Lessons of The Evil so ripe for an American audience is that those bizarre desires find their way into a context that hits quite close to home. The film, I think, actually belongs to this tradition of American films brave enough to confront that what most of us perceive as heroism could easily be displaced madness (see: The Searchers or Taxi Driver). Even more relevant is how it tackles the recent problem of bullying that's been the subject of documentaries and internet campaigns. But what is distinctly un-American about Lessons is how it approaches the matter. Making a problem film is easy but Miike's film is one that asks its viewers to be cautious with the means that we might resort to fix the problem.
Formally, Miike is also overlooked. While there is no shortage of violence, it rarely comes at you all at once as his reputation might have you assume. Miike is, in fact, a highly patient filmmaker, and his sense of foreboding is on full display here. The school that Miike depicts isn't a place that’s totally cold but there is clearly a sense of being disconnected; the children don't state their typical coming of age problems right into the camera. The conflicts among the kids might even require an additional viewing. The plotline with the kids drama never seems to get above a whisper, the kids in many situations just feel like animals grazing. The scariest implication is that the school itself is an environment meant to protect the children is one that simultaneously encourages violence - one of the subtlest bits is the kids regular archery practice. The film is a disturbing masterpiece that everyone who thinks they can stomach it should seek out.
