A Film A Day: Takeshi Kitano

Battle Royale (2000)

I don't remember who told me or where I read it, but quite some time ago I found out that Battle Royale (Japanese: バトル・ロワイヤル Batoru Rowaiaru) is one of Quentin Tarantino's favourite films so I decided to check it out.

At the beginning of the 21st Century, Japan is in chaos as unemployment is an all-time high, and kids are boycotting school and becoming more and more violent. For this reason, the government decides to introduce a new measure, the Battle Royale Act, overseen by former teacher Kitano (Takeshi Kitano), which consists in randomly picking a school class to be taken to a deserted island where the students will be forced to fight each other to death until only one remains. If they refuse to follow the rules or participate, the special collar they were forced to wear will explode and kill them.

Original Title

あの夏、いちばん静かな海。 Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi

Cast

Kurôdo Maki, Hiroko Ôshima, Sabu Kawahara, Toshizo Fujiwara, Susumu Terajima, Katsuya Koiso, Toshio Matsui, Yasukazu Ishitani, Naomi Kubota, Tsuyoshi Ohwada, Tatsuya Sugimoto, Meijin Serizawa, Tetsu Watanabe, Keiko Sugimoto, Kagakusha Akiyama

Storyline

Shigeru (Kurôdo Maki) is a part timer working for the sanitation service, who becomes passionate about surf when he finds a broken board in the garbage. So he begins to spend long days in a surfer's beach, with his girlfriend Takako (Hiroko Ôshima), deaf like him, and makes friends with a local group of surfers.

Opinion

Until yesterday, I firmly believed that dialogue was the most important aspect of a relationship. Much to my surprise, Takeshi Kitano demonstrates I was wrong by showing a spectacular, silent relationship between Shigeru and his girlfriend Takako.

A Scene at the Sea is a quiet, meditative, sad, beautiful, poetic film that deals with the problems of communications between human beings, and, despite the slow pacing and the repeated situations, it is fascinating, and drives the audience to the touching ending.

It is also a spectacular ode to surfing, portrayed in a realistic and pure way, rendered emotional by the great cinematographic skills of Katsumi Yanagishima, that also manages to perfectly capture the calmness of the sea.
Waves, and their sound, are the perfect way to describe the inner-feelings Shigeru can't express in words.

Takeshi Kitano shows off his great skills, both as a director and as a writer, and keeping distance from violence, and comedy, creates a spectacular art house film.
The acting, characterized by facial and bodily expressions, is completely convincing.

Even though the film is subtitled, to fully immerse yourself in the story, and to feel more close to the main characters, I suggest you to watch it in Japanese with no subtitles on, also because those few lines of dialogue are not essential to understand, and love the film.

Brother (2000)

Genre

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Director

Takeshi Kitano

Country

United States | United Kingdom | Japan

Cast

Takeshi Kitano, Omar Epps, Tetsuya Watari, Claude Maki, Masaya Kato, Susumu Terajima, Royale Watkins, Lombardo Boyar, Ren Osugi, Ryo Ishibashi, James Shigeta, Tatyana Ali, Makoto Otake, Kouen Okumura, Naomasa Musaka, Rino Katase, Joy Nakagawa, Amaury Nolasco, Tuesday Knight

Plot

Yamamoto (Takeshi Kitano), also referred to as Aniki (meaning elder brother) is a lone yakuza officer.

Defeated in a war with a rival family, his boss killed and betrayed by his loyal "brother" (Ren Ôsugi), he heads to Los Angeles, California.

As time passes, Yamamoto and his new gang emerge as a powerful force, gradually expanding their turf to an extent that they must confront the Mafia. The Mafia's attacks are ruthless, and soon Yamamoto and his gang are driven into a disastrous situation of no return.