Stars: Michele Reis, Ren Osugi, Akaji Maro

Director: Takashi Miike

Summary: Ex-convict Mario battles with Yakuza and Triad gangs to get the fake passports he and his Chinese girlfriend, Kei, need to start a new life in Australia.

THE CITY OF LOST SOULS is the fruit of Japanese auteur Takashi Miike's (AUDITION) collaboration with the Hong Kong film industry, a dazzling gangster picture that mixes the absurd, brutal violence, and the surreal freely. The film stars Michelle Reis as Kei, a young Chinese woman who is in love with a Japanese Brazilian named Mario. However, a local triad boss also has eyes for the beautiful Kei, and will do whatever it takes to prevent Kei and Mario from settling down, forcing the couple to go on the run and tangle with a series of bizarre henchmen.

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A stylised and violent thriller, prolific director Miike Takashi's The City Of Lost Souls(2000) is set in the ganglands of Tokyo and pays homage to Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino and, in a daft, animated cockfighting sequence, The Matrix. Mario (Teah) is the Japanese-Brazilian gunslinger fresh out jail who, in a hilariously audacious action sequence, hijacks a helicopter to save his Chinese girlfriend Kei (Michelle Reis) from deportation. He must then secure 18 million yen to secure fake passports for both of them to make a new life for themselves in Australia. In a misconceived operation, Mario arrives at the lair of the intriguing Ko, Kei's ex-boyfriend--a self-assured, effeminate young exchange student--who is somehow head of a vicious gang of Triads. He is on the point of buying a consignment of cocaine from decadent, cold-blooded Yakuza gangster Fushimi when Mario's arrival triggers a shootout, with Mario escaping with the wrong suitcase. Now, in time-honoured True Romancefashion, Mario and Kei are on the run from the mob.

Although visually tricksy with some strong set-pieces, The City of Lost Soulsis rather hazy when it comes to story and characterisation. We get little sense of the runaway couple as people. A young blind girl is introduced into the tale and there are romantic moments between Mario and Kei but these feel like sugary palliatives to the bloodshed rather than touching moments. Better perhaps to check out Takashi's Audition, a brilliantly gruesome satire on male Japanese attitudes towards womanhood. This is a flashier, faster but less artistically satisfying affair.

On the DVD:The City of Lost Soulsis presented in video aspect ratio 1.85:1, with reasonable clarity and sharpness. However, the English subtitles are a little pidgin and slapdash in places, none of which improves the main special feature, a rather dull and vague interview with director Takashi. --David Stubbs

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	Japanese
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	Star And Director Filmographies, Scene Selection, Original Trailer, Miike Takashi Interview, Tom Mes Film Notes, Miike Takashi Trailer Reel
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2000
Release Date:	November 18, 2002
Runtime:	103 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	T V D 3390
Keywords:	Lost, City, General, Hazard, Souls, Drama
Genre:	Drama