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| SONATINE | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| “Beat” Takeshi Kitano’s 1993 Yakuza movie is another to add on to his list of unadulterated masterpieces. It contains all of Kitano’s trademark directing styles and visuals, the way he glides the camera along slowly and less flash-bang than Hollywood styles, gives it a feel of real life, not fantasy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Kitano plays a well-respected Yakuza named Murakawa, who is ordered by his Boss to help settle a gang war in Okinawa, but when things go bad for Murakawa and his men they hide out in a beach house on the coast. While there he helps a young women in distress when she is about to be raped and forms a relationship with her. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sonatine, like most Kitano movies, has moments of extreme realistic violence and dark comedic moments, which make the movie even. And at times you’re not sure whether to laugh or not. The scene where Kitano beats the hell out of a smug fellow Yakuza in a men’s restroom equals the nastiness of another restroom scene in Violent Cop. |
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| The contrast in the behaviour of the Yakuza is another main theme in Sonatine. When out on business they are serious and collected, but when hiding out at the beach house they become like children. Laughing and clowning around, playing games. While the games aren’t so child-like, like shooting cans off each other’s heads and having firework fights, the way in which they engage in them are. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| If you are familiar with Takeshi’s other works you’ll probably be able to guess that this doesn’t have a happy ending. But I guess Kitano is trying to tell us that the majority of the time lifes little tales don’t end as well as we would want them to end. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| As always everything is on top form here, great score, great acting, great cinematography…well basically everyone on the credits did a superb job. It’s people that make this type of entertainment who should really get all the awards and praise, instead of people who waste millions on a big budget summer blockbuster. But as with most of "Beats" movies a review and plot summary doesn't do the film justice cause his movies are the type of things you have to see for yourself and find your own thing that you love about it. So if you are sick of brainless flicks that do nothing but be ironic and smartarsed, see a Kitano movie and change you outlook on cinema. |
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| BACK TO FRONT | ||||||||||||||||||||||