For me, this could well be one of the most thematically strange, appealingly eccentric Yakuza revenge flicks I have ever seen! Blackly funny, oblique, sporadically brutal, and breathtakingly original, 'Eyes of The Spider' is a deliciously nonconformist downbeat gem! The grieving parent, turned dispassionate hitman, Niijima's (Shô Aikawa) blithe aptitude for arbitrary violence frequently makes for an ambivalent, refreshingly cliché free protagonist. Maestro, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is an enviably smart filmmaker, and his glacially off-beat gangster noir has much to recommend it. Undeniably confounding at times, it's a visually engaging, compellingly acted thriller, and Kurosawa's darkly tinted humour is a rare treat. It might also be fair to suggest that the Kitano-factor is palpable in this one!
