RAINY DOG is another Yakuza story from the prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike and an unconnected follow-up of sorts to his SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY. This one tells the tale of a Japanese assassin who now lives in Taiwan, eking out a living performing jobs for a local crime boss. The film has a grim and depressing feel to it, and is also very slow paced without much of the directorial style or vibrant action we've come to expect from the director. Instead it's a world of nihilism and nastiness, full of driving rain and abuse. The film's heart involves the main character's relationship with his son, an estranged boy who is thrown into his care without warning. I found the experience dull and dreary and lacking imagination, not one of the director's better films.
Review of Rainy Dog
