Sonatine. (18.)
Directed by Takeshi Kitano. 1993.
Starring Takeshi Kitano, Aya Kokumai, Tetsu Wantanabe, Masanobu Katsumura, Susumu Terashima, Ren Ohsugi. In Japanese with subtitles. 94 mins.
Sonatine is the film where all the random spurts of misery and suffering from the previous films suddenly assume a form that is quite beautiful. Still bleak, but in a transcendent way. Seen in isolation it's absolutely remarkable, but for anyone going through this collection in chronological order, it is going to be like a moment of release, an attainment of nirvana. Kitano is again a gangster, sent off by the boss to Okinawa to sort out a domestic dispute between the local yakuza there. He ends up laying low at a beachfront hideout with what's left of his gang after a nightclub shoot out. With nothing much to do, the gang pass the time playing games and pranks on each other, and gaining some perspective on their lives.
Now he knows how to make everything pay off. A perfect example is a big night time shoot out which is rendered by juxtaposing a shot of Kitano against a black background firing an assault rifle at the camera and the flashes of gunfire seen through a window from the outside. (It's an image I suspect Michael Mann borrowed for Heat.) I'd like to think if he looked at the film again, he'd decide that the inset of him with the gun was excessive and cut it out.
It's a perverse approach to action cinema - cut out the action. Paul Greengrass did something similar in his Bourne films but while you might have felt a bit cheated by his whooshing, swooshing, that's-2-seconds-cut! approach, the Kitano way – set up confrontation; jump to the aftermath – is very satisfying. He knows what you need, probably better than you know yourself. Kitano is a great filmmaker because he makes it all look so easy. If the ideas are sound and you know what you are doing you don't need elaborate tracking shots, you can do it with a few close-ups.
It helps of course that Takeshi is a great star. He may not be a great actor – supposedly after being taken to see this film because he'd been told that it was reminiscent of his films with Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Delon said "he's not an actor, he only has three facial expressions" but the camera loves him, and not just his own camera. I remember seeing Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence when it came out in the mid-80s and, along with Tom Conti's, his performance was the best thing in it.
Sonatine is funny and moving, and it leaves you with an enormously rich sense of satisfaction. You've been fully entertained, yet the film has cut down deep into some uncomfortable truths. Which I think translates into your money's worth in any language.
Violent Cop review
Directed by Takeshi Kitano. 1993.
Starring Takeshi Kitano, Aya Kokumai, Tetsu Wantanabe, Masanobu Katsumura, Susumu Terashima, Ren Ohsugi. In Japanese with subtitles. 94 mins.
Sonatine is the film where all the random spurts of misery and suffering from the previous films suddenly assume a form that is quite beautiful. Still bleak, but in a transcendent way. Seen in isolation it's absolutely remarkable, but for anyone going through this collection in chronological order, it is going to be like a moment of release, an attainment of nirvana. Kitano is again a gangster, sent off by the boss to Okinawa to sort out a domestic dispute between the local yakuza there. He ends up laying low at a beachfront hideout with what's left of his gang after a nightclub shoot out. With nothing much to do, the gang pass the time playing games and pranks on each other, and gaining some perspective on their lives.
Now he knows how to make everything pay off. A perfect example is a big night time shoot out which is rendered by juxtaposing a shot of Kitano against a black background firing an assault rifle at the camera and the flashes of gunfire seen through a window from the outside. (It's an image I suspect Michael Mann borrowed for Heat.) I'd like to think if he looked at the film again, he'd decide that the inset of him with the gun was excessive and cut it out.
It's a perverse approach to action cinema - cut out the action. Paul Greengrass did something similar in his Bourne films but while you might have felt a bit cheated by his whooshing, swooshing, that's-2-seconds-cut! approach, the Kitano way – set up confrontation; jump to the aftermath – is very satisfying. He knows what you need, probably better than you know yourself. Kitano is a great filmmaker because he makes it all look so easy. If the ideas are sound and you know what you are doing you don't need elaborate tracking shots, you can do it with a few close-ups.
It helps of course that Takeshi is a great star. He may not be a great actor – supposedly after being taken to see this film because he'd been told that it was reminiscent of his films with Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Delon said "he's not an actor, he only has three facial expressions" but the camera loves him, and not just his own camera. I remember seeing Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence when it came out in the mid-80s and, along with Tom Conti's, his performance was the best thing in it.
Sonatine is funny and moving, and it leaves you with an enormously rich sense of satisfaction. You've been fully entertained, yet the film has cut down deep into some uncomfortable truths. Which I think translates into your money's worth in any language.
Violent Cop review
