Sonatine (DVD)

...his films.

Sonatine doesn't pretend to be a true action movie with loads of pointless violence and one-liner plots. Japanese films, whether good or bad, have subtle touches that you very rarely see in American mainstream films.

"Beat" relies on the abstract rather than the action-visual. It would be too easy to turn this film into a kind of Reservoir Dogs meets Black Rain meets The Godfather, with lots of visual ...
...can instantly relate too.

Instead the audience has to concentrate a great deal harder to see through all the symbolism and appreciate that an "empty" picture is worth a 1000 unspoken words.

Yakuza, are really condemned men - they know they will die soon and so don't fear death as "Beat" points out during one of his short but aposite conversations with the only woman in the film, Aya Kokumai.
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Takeshi "Beat" Kitano has always fascinated me ever since I saw him along side the unlikely David Bowie in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence ('83).

Unfortunately trying to track down his films both as actor and/or director is difficult in the UK and only his most well know ever reach these shores - Violent Cop, Boiling Point and of course his most familiar, Sonatine.

Colleagues who saw this film with me were initially expecting some kind of Yakuza/Johnny Woo/Jackie Chan offering, perhaps not really appreciating that not all Oriental films are so lightweight.

They were subsequently disappointed, finding it tedious, repetitive, boring & too abstract. I too initially found the movie just a trifle on the curious side, but I was intrigued and decided I wanted more, so I bought the video. And now, after about 4 or 5 reruns the pure majesty of what "Beat" tries to tell us about Yakuza culture becomes obvious.

Kitano is often labelled as Japan's answer to Tarantino, which I guess is well earned - there are a great many similarities which I won't go into detail here. But Kitano has the edge over the Big T, not because of his age & experience but because of the mysterious Japanese post-war culture and the hidden guilt that seems to hang over most of his films.

Sonatine doesn't pretend to be a true action movie with loads of pointless violence and one-liner plots. Japanese films, whether good or bad, have subtle touches that you very rarely see in American mainstream films.

"Beat" relies on the abstract rather than the action-visual. It would be too easy to turn this film into a kind of Reservoir Dogs meets Black Rain meets The Godfather, with lots of visual over-the-top violence and hard but simplistic dialogue that an audience can instantly relate too.

Instead the audience has to concentrate a great deal harder to see through all the symbolism and appreciate that an "empty" picture is worth a 1000 unspoken words.

Yakuza, are really condemned men - they know they will die soon and so don't fear death as "Beat" points out during one of his short but aposite conversations with the only woman in the film, Aya Kokumai.

The symbolism of impending death for these men of "honour" is only hinted at throughout the film, but it is there if the audience chooses to reach out and look for it. For example, there's the amazing Russian Roulette scene between Kitano & two of his younger foot soldiers on the beach; then there's the spectacularly uplifting Sumo scene, again on the beach, touched to perfection with a wonderful choir-like musical score.

But then there's the cruel torture of some small time hood who tries to shun Kitano's demand for protection money. He is severely punished by tied up & submerged into a river by a crane. "Beat", and his gang stare at him while talking amongst themselves forgetting about the time until they realise he's been under for more than three minutes.

He's pulled back up dead, but "Beat" makes a dismissive remark about their mistake and walks off. Death is so routine that they have lost all sense of reason & moral decency. Life is just an interruption as they wait for their turn with the bullet.

There isn't a weak moment in the film, although you really have to be patient. If you view this film expecting fireworks and easy answers, then give up now and stick with Woo & Chan!

There are violent scenes but also lots of scenes where nothing obvious seems to happen unless you look hard as you try to understand what Kitano (the director as well as actor) is trying to say but without saying anything!

A truly excellent & moving film, coupled with a beautiful, yet haunting soundtrack. (I was so impressed with the film I was sad enough to create my Ciao login in its honour!)

It's true to say that his latter films from the 90s - "Hana-Bi"(1997), "Kikujiro no natsu" (1999) and the more Western-influenced "Brother" (2000) are more refined, more disturbing & thought provoking, as well as being received to a much wider Western audience & critically acclaimed the world over.

But for me "Sonatine" will always be my favorite Kitano/Japanese film of all: more so for the truly sad yet explosive ending!

Check it out and put your thinking cap on. It will be well worth it!
 

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