Hana-Bi DVD

Advantages: Beautifully Shot, Poetic, Emotive
Disadvantages: None

Takeshi Kitano has been a mainstay of the Japanese entertainment industry for more than twenty years. He first entered the world of directing with 1991's Violent Cop, a film that was originally intended to be directed by Yakuza movie legend Kinji Fukasaki. However, Fukusaki became ill whilst filming and so the helm was passed over to star "Beat" Takeshi. From that day on, Kitano has continued to carve out a niche in world cinema with his original ...
...of violence. This combination reached its cumulative best with 1997\'s classic Hana Bi(Fireworks). Hana Bi went on to win much critical acclaim, including winning the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. All of these accolades were richly deserved. Hana Bi is principally the story of an ageing police officer who takes a loan out from Yakuza members to pay for a trip around Japan with his terminally ill wife. Meanwhile, his partner is ... Read review

Advantages: Possibly best ever Kitano movie
Disadvantages: None whatsoever

Films previous to this made by Kitano included Violent Cop, Sonatine, and Boiling Point, and if you've seen those 3, you'll notice the difference here. This film was made after his motorcycle accident which left him with a facial twitch which is evident, but one can see the change in style brought about as a result of it. Takeshi's character, Nishi, is a cop whose wife is terminally ill, and whose daughter died earlier. As he tries to deal with his ...
...partner gets shot and as a result is crippled. Nishi blames himself for this, as he was visiting his wife in hospital at the time that his partner got shot. The full story unfolds in short flashback sequences, and Nishi feels snowballing guilt. To add to his problems, he owes the Yakuza a lot in debt, and has to go about repaying it. The story is mainly about how Nishi decides to spend time with his wife who hasn't got long left to live, as he contemplates ... Read review

Advantages: great acting and cinematoraphy
Disadvantages: none

...including this one). Hana-Bi (the word for "fireworks" in Japanese), follows Nishi a tired, world weary cop in debt to the Yakuza. To add to his woes his daughter has recently died and his wife Miyuki, is dying of cancer. Nishi is on a stakeout when he asks his friend and colleague Horibe, if it's ok to visit her in hospital. The stakeout goes horribly wrong and Horibe is shot and paralised. Nishi feels he is responsible and goes on the run with ...
...markings of a typical Takeshi film, with the calm before the storm violence, then calm again. There are moments of real beauty and laugh out loud humour, which add even more weight to the tragic storyline. Takeshi again shows he is a master of cinematography and mixes very poignant scenes with the violence very well. The acting is fantastic and is real lump in your throat stuff. Add the string laden score top the mix and you have a 10 out of 10 ... Read review