Nostalgia Kinky

How do you follow up films as unforgettably off-the-wall as the 2001 duo of Visitor Q and Ichi the Killer? If you are legendary Takashi Miike, you take to the streets again to create the 200-minute two-part modern yakuza epic Agitator. A wonderfully realized guerrilla filmmaking experience, Agitator finds Miike in a much more meditative place than the hyper-violent films preceding it. While Agitator certainly has shocking moments of graphic sexuality and especially violence, this is a film that finds Miike obsessed more with the inevitable boredom even the most hardened criminals face. Recently released here is the states by Radiance as a special-edition Blu-ray, containing both the 200-minute original and shortened theatrical cut, Agitator is a hauntingly unique work that lingers long after its final credits roll.

Featuring an incredibly engrossing script by a former real-life yakuza turned screenwriter, Shigenori Takechi, Agitator has an air of seasoned authenticity, taking place in a world of old stubbornness clashing with youthful idealism. Takechi apparently came up with much of the idea staring at a wall in a prison cell, and the film does indeed feel like a memory, in how packed it is with seemingly forgettable moments that only take on importance in hindsight.

Considering its epic scope and original run-time, it is no surprise that Agitator has an extensive cast, and yet it is Masaya Katō who dominates the film. Katō delivers a soulful, literally haunted performance that reminded me a bit of Elvis in Don Siegel’s Flaming Star. Hair a bit unkempt, often clad in black leather, with his lost-love’s pendant worn as a necklace, Katō creates a poetic and soulful character for Miike.

Shot quickly, without permits, Agitator benefits greatly from the editing by Yasushi Shimamura, the same man who cut the two Miike classics that preceded this as well as the mythic Audition (1999). This is a really great director/editor combo, and this period finds them on a fiery role. Despite featuring a lot of dialogue, a lot of story, and a lot of deliberate focus on downtime, it is to Shimamura’s credit that this moves so smoothly. I’ve seen both the theatrical and the preferred longer cut, and I find each equally engrossing takedowns of an often overly mythologized culture.

Agitator has been unfairly overlooked this past quarter of a century and it isn’t hard to see why. If you were a cult-film fan in the late 90s/early 2000s, films like Audition and Ichi the Killer were constantly being discussed, traded, and thought about. Agitator doesn’t have the wild intensity of Audition, the unrelenting brutality of Ichi the Killer or just the sheer strangeness of The Happiness of the Katakuris.
What Agitator does have is soul, and it has lots of it. Despite this, Agitator instantly became little-seen here in the States, unlike Miike’s other classics of the period, although it did receive some acclaim at the Seattle International Film Festival.

Radiance has offered up another one of their lovely Obi-Stripped limited edition Blu-rays for Agitator. Part of the UK release Underworld Chronicles: Three Yakuza Fables by Takashi Miike, Agitator has thankfully been granted an individual release via Radiance’s USA division. The theatrical cut is presented via a crisp-looking HD restoration. The two-part complete version is seen here via an SD presentation. This is actually fitting considering the film was designed as a “V-Cinema” (Straight to Video) release and this version has previously never been seen outside the Japanese VHS format. A pretty lengthy and interesting new interview with Miike is also found on the disc, the film’s intense ending-revealing trailer is here too. Finally, a great commentary by Tom Mes, who also writes the booklet essay, can be heard on the theatrical cut.

I’ve long wanted to see the 200-minute version of Agitator and I was far from disappointed. Takashi Miike remains one of the most important filmmakers of my lifetime, and Agitator is one of his best films.
An essential release by Radiance.

-Jeremy Richey, April 2026-

Agitator can be ordered from MVD.