Watches
August 24, 2016
Early days for Takashi Miike. He didn't arrive with a bang, so much is clear. Eyecatch Junction feels like an exercise, a film Miike needed to get used to his directorial role. There are minor shimmers of his genius visible, though hindsight no doubt plays a big part in that. As such, this is mostly a film for people who are interested in Miike's history.
The plot is pretty fun and daft, even though the execution isn't. Three female cops feel their male colleagues aren't taking them serious. When they meet for a gym class, they decide to form a little renegade unit. When a case about a missing girl turns up, they see it as an ideal opportunity to show what they're worth.
The comedy is pretty silly (nosebleeds and all that), but Miike is very restrained and doesn't take it beyond its manga/anime roots. The performances are weak, the 4:3 video look is an eyesore and the soundtrack is atrocious. This could've been really fun if Miike had made this a decade later, but as it is now, it's really just dull filler and little more than a blip on his road to success.