I've been a Miike fan for quite some time, and truly love his wild and crazy approach to film making. But this movie proves that he can also do serious films, and better than many serious directors. It is part 2 of his Triad society trilogy, and once again his themes of outsiders and innocence vs. violence is very obvious. The story is about a japanese hitman (beautifully down-played by Sho Aikawa) who has immigrated to taiwan. At the beginning a woman shows up at his doorstep and leaves a boy, whom she claims is his. The hitman doesn't really acknowledge the boy, and simply goes about his business (which mainly consists of killing people). But the boy follows him everywhere, and when the hitman later develops a sort of relationship with a prostitute, the three slowly grows closer, and become like a sort of family. The movie is very melancholic and has a tremendously moving atmosphere. It is completely rinsed of the usual Miike insanity and it actually works really well. It reminded me very much of Jarmusch, right down to the Neil Young-like slide guitar that makes up the soundtrack. If you've only seen his "crazy"-films you should really give this one a chance, since it really proves what an absolutely brilliant director this man is. "Rainy Dog" is with out doubt a masterpiece in modern cinema, and is even more impressive coming from the hands of the guy who brought us Ichi the Killer, Fudoh, Happiness of the Katakuris etc. etc. Takashi Miike continues to impress!

10/10