Hana-Bi [DVD]

I remember watching Hana-Bi on TV about 20 years ago and thinking it was fantastic. I've been catching up on Takeshi Kitano's work on DVD/Blu ray recently and I'm delighted to report that I still love this movie.It's kinda presented as a crime/heist movie, but that's not really the whole of it. It's more a story about a man coming to terms with his dying wife's illness as his life collapses around him, juxtaposed with another severely depressed man saving his soul through creating works of art. The cops and gangsters stuff is window dressing for this. I found it quite moving back then and I still do now. It's hard not to think that this was Kitano working through his own issues through the medium of film, considering what was going on in the director's own life at the time and his own near-death experience. The cinematography is superb here too. I think Kitano wanted to show us the beauty of the Japanese landscape (and show off his own paintings!) too - and we get this here in spades.If you want a straight up rip-roaring Yakuza movie, go watch Kitano's "Outrage". If you want a straight up maverick cop movie, watch his "Violent Cop". This one is more slow and thoughtful. Absolutely worth investing your time in this, though I guess some people might find it a little "slow". Leaves you with a lot to think about.Wonderfully presented Blu-ray too. Nice clear picture/sound and good subtitles. There are also plenty of extras.One criticism I do have (not worth knocking a star off) is that I think that audio commentary could have been better. I know most people only listen to these once or twice, but I sometimes appreciate the insight/context/stories about the production/etc. Here, it starts off okay, but I'm the last half hour or so, the fellow seems to run out of things to say and just starts describing what we just watched happen on screen and there is a lot of silence. It doesn't detract from the movie, but I thought it worth mentioning.If you want to see Takeshi Kitano strutting around with a stony face, kicking ass, spilling blood and killing a bunch of bad guys, there is some of that here too, but I think if you come into this, expecting this to be a tough-guy movie, you'll be disappointed. It's way more than that. Maybe it's supposed to be a deconstruction of that sort of movie.Definitely check this one out.

Hana-bi (AKA: Fireworks) is written and directed by Takeshi Kitano. It stars Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi and Susumu Terajima. Music is by Joe Hisaishi and cinematography by Hideo Yamamoto.Yoshikata Nishi (Kitano) is a loose cannon police detective who quits the force after a tragic incident results in his partner, Horibe (Osugi), being confined to a wheelchair. His retirement brings him the time to care more for his seriously ill wife Miyuki (Kishimoto). Nishi can find no peace, though, more so as he has borrowed money from the Yakuza to pay for his wife's needs, and they are growing impatient for the repayment...Very early in Kitano's superb slice of Japanese neo-noir there is a piece of graffiti on the wall, it says "Drop Dead", while Hisaishi's music is a devilish accompaniment to the scene. It's ominous and foreboding, setting the tone for what is to follow. Pic is deliberately paced, beautifully so, with the opening nonlinear approach and scattergun shifts in time adding a sort of psychological maelstrom to the impending narrative darkness.Yet to suggest it as a perpetually bleak picture is doing it a small disservice, for Kitano (himself working from a damaged psyche that occurred in real life) has this adroit eye for poetic beauty and human tenderness that marries up with bursts of violence and emotionally shattering passages of play. And it works brilliantly, with stabs of humour also filtering in via the outer frames.Nishi the character is a force of nature and a walking - brooding - contradiction, a man pained behind his sunglasses, his expressionless visage amazingly still saying so much. When he explodes the impact is doubly strong, mainly because dialogue is so sparse, but the interwoven visuals - very much a Kitano speciality - strike an almighty chord for the story. To which we edge towards the finale, which unsurprisingly brings beauty and infinite sadness.Unfussy camera work, sabre sharp editing (Kitano & Yoshinori Oota), elegiacal musical arrangements, art, kites and Kitano's intense performance, this rounds out as film making greatness. In fact, a masterpiece. 10/10

Winner of the golden lion at the Venice film festival in '97, Hana-Bi may well be the finest film i've seen. Written, directed and starring Kitano 'Beat' Takeshi and accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack it tells the story of a recently retired policeman who's wife is dying causing him to become ridden with guilt, who then decides to borrow money from the yakuza and rob a bank so he can do what he can for his wife in her last days, an ex-partner who is now wheelchair bound and the wife of another fellow officer who was killed. With the abstract use of some of Takeshi's own real life paintings that he did after a very unpleasant motorcycle accident, moments of sudden violence, unexpected comedy, and persued by the yakuza and police, he takes his wife on a journey that is as strange and depressing as it is wonderful. There is no western equivalent to Japans Beat Takeshi. His unique filming and acting style demands to be seen!!!

That ending….

Great movie

Along with Violent Cop, I think this is one of my very favourite Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano films. His films are like nothing I have seen before. You never really know what to expect with his films. Is it going to be non stop violence? Usually not. Is it going to be funny? Pretty much yes. Will it be beautifully shot? You bet. Will it be a moving experience? Oh yes. The mixture of emotions you will experience in his films is quite simply breath taking. Please watch this film and his other works and I guarantee they will stay with you forever. Takeshi Kitano, in my eyes is an absolute genius.