Takashi Miike Releases Secret Short Film Shot on an iPhone — Watch ‘Midnight’ Here

Tony Maglio
·2 min read
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Here’s a nice surprise to get you over Hump Day: Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike secretly shot a 19-minute short film, titled “Midnight,” on an Apple iPhone 15 Pro. Apple quietly released the film on YouTube.

“Midnight,” originally a manga by Osamu Tezuka and directed for film by Miike, follows a mysterious taxi driver, Midnight, who lends a hand to Kaede, a young girl chased by assassins. This dude is a hell of a lot better than that “Cash Cab” guy, and “Midnight” is a hell of a lot better than your home iPhone videos.

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Midnight can see the near future, which makes him one of the only people outside of Miike himself who saw this film coming. But when you do see it, you’ll probably want to trade in your Samsung device.

The short film is visually stunning, especially when you consider its camera — Miike’s iPhone has no problem keeping up with the bright lights of the city or his high-speed car chases. “Midnight” will leave you thinking that the only devices cooler than an iPhone 15 Pro are the ones pimping out the titular character’s cab.

“Midnight,” mixing live-action with manga illustrations and action with comedy, is a highly effective iPhone 15 Pro commercial — you won’t even balk at the product-placement shot that proves just how indestructible the new model is.

Miike, the extreme filmmaker best known for “Audition” and “Ichi the Killer,” is among the most prolific directors in the world. In 2017, IndieWire ranked his top 10 films. The piece, a difficult feed considering his near-100-film résumé at the time, was timed to the U.S. release of Miike’s big-budget feature film “Blade of the Immortal.”

At the time, 26 years into his impressive career, IndieWire wrote: “Miike has led the kind of career that rivals that of much more veteran filmmakers. He matured from the shot-for-video domestic market to the international film festival circuit, and finally became a major studio hitmaker with his personal choice of the top productions in Japan. His prolific and rapid success is unmatched by any other Japanese filmmaker of his generation, and while a major international co-production still eludes him, Miike is one of the top craftsmen in his own country: His films still play regularly overseas at festivals or via foreign distribution contracts. His filmography is so lengthy, in fact, and so full of television work and other side projects that one could be forgiven for being mistaken about the exact number of films the director has actually completed.”

Miike’s most recent film, “Lumberjack the Monster,” has yet to find U.S. distribution.

Watch the “Midnight” short film below. Is it time to update our top 10? Perhaps.

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