I hate Miike's other movies, will I like this one?

Nope, zero, it´s the exact opposite of Miike´s more known movies.

Other Miike non-gore movies are Blues Harp, Young Thugs Nostalgia, also stuff like Rainy Dog, which has some violence but not that much.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep, and you weep alone.

hmm i wouldnt say its an opposite of his other films - but, no, there isnt any gore or adult themes in it.

its just as complex, if not moreso than his other movies, though. a joy to watch and a pain in the ass to fully grasp [a good thing].
love it.

This is a perfect movie for someone who doesn tlike Gore or violence but still wants to see Miike's style of directing. There is no gore or violence in this one and it is still agreat movie! GET IT!!!!!!!!!

That's funny I was about to ask the opposite question:
I like this movie, will I hate his others?

Gore factor: this one's pretty tame. It's not 100% happy-sunshiney though. There's 1 really disturbing scene if you're an animal lover... but I'm pretty sure none of it was real.

Btw, can some Miike aficianados tell me if he does any (real) animal cruelty/killing in his other films? Asian films are not bound by the same animal cruelty laws as the USA, so I never know what to expect. Fake gore doesn't bother me at all. It's the real stuff that turns my stomach.

Lately I've been watching some of Miikes' movies. The first movies by him I did see where his famous "Yakuza" films. Movies that IMO are "good" but somehow empty and doesn't add anything really new to the "Gangsters" genre.
let's say they are a good way to spent 2 hours and that's all.

But then I saw this movie, the title and the cover were quite different from other Miike's films, instantly I decided to rent it.

I was expecting another gore fest, since a Yakuza member is one of the main characters. But I went gladly surprised when I discovered that this was a deeper, richer, more interesting and poetical film than any other of his movies that I've watched before.

Immediately the story of foreigners that brings with them corruption and modernity (some things that seems cannot be separated) into a wild, distant and uncorrupted place, brought me memories from such great movies like "The Mission", "Fitzcarraldo", "Aguirre, The Wrath of God", "Cobra Verde" even "Apocalypse Now" and other movies like that. (some latin american films as well like "Cabeza de Vaca" or "Bajo California").

i.e. in "The Mission" one former slave-trader (De Niro) converts into the biggest and most obstinate defender of the natives that he used to slave years before. In this movie the Yakuza turns into the biggest defender of the culture and traditions of that remote people.

i.e in "Fitzcarraldo", the main charachter (Kinski), tries to bring with him modernity into the middle of the jungle but finally he is conquered by the nature and isolation. In "The Bird People in China", the businessman is sent to find and then to exploit jade mines, therefore the modernity with all its good things and bad things would come as well. But he is "defeated" by the "dreams of flying" and decides to let the site untouched.

I could go on and on, just to say that the "magical-realism", so typical in latinamerican literature and movies, adds a lot to this story. Something that I didn't expect from a japanese movie, and certainly not from Mr. Miike.

I have just watched a small portion of the wide filmography by Miike, but this is the best film by him that I've seen so far.

Some people have said that Takashi Miike have shot some other movies similar to this one, I'd love to watch them. Sadly in my videoclub they only have several of his Yakuza films AND this one.

"The Bird People in China" is a great movie that shows us that poetry can also be "commercial", not only violence and sex, or worse: silly comedies or soapy melodramas.

9/10