Low-rent detective Raita (Kazuya Nakayama) is getting drunk one night at his apartment when a potential client comes by needing help. Not being that good of a detective, he shoos her off so he can keep drinking. She ends up being attacked nearby and her liver removed while she's still alive. Jeez! This is the first in a string of murders that all seem to center around Raita. There's also clues pointing toward a local artist who specializes in morbid paintings. Will Raita be able to solve the crimes before the murders are pinned on him?
If you are a fan of Takashi Miike you will know what to expect (bizarre characters doing bizarre things, weird editing, unusual camerawork, a low-budget masked by Miike's talent, surrealism, random stuff that just makes no sense whatsoever, etc.), but if you're new to Miike then you'll probably end up scratching your head more than a few times. That said, I liked DETECTIVE STORY. I can't really see myself ever wanting to watch it again anytime soon, but it is unique and I wasn't bored.
On the downside there's never any emotional investment at all since the entire time Raita is on the run from the cops (who blame him for the three murders) he's goofing off like he's in a Ernest P. Worrell movie. Also, there's one scene (after the first murder) when Raita is sitting down and a ghost shows up behind him, it's kinda freaky, but then while Raita moves his head the ghost is suppose to
disappear (while being blocked from our view by his head), somebody missed their mark and you can
clearly see the actress ducking down. If done properly, it would have been a cool shot, but instead it just ended up looking stupid. I have no idea why this was allowed in the final film.
As a dedicated Miike fan, I enjoyed DETECTIVE STORY, but I can easily see why somebody else might not like it.
