Brother (2000)
Country: GB/FR/JAP
Technical: col 114m
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Claude Maki, Omar Epps, Masaya Katô
Synopsis:
Leaving Japan in order to defuse a conflict between yakuza factions, gangster Aniki winds up in L.A. where his kid brother is barely holding out with his fellow drug racketeers against their Latino overlords. Before long, Aniki is taking on the Latinos, rival Japanese gangsters and the Mafia.
Review:
Contrary to U.S. versions of the overweening gangster narrative, Kitano brings his trademark Eastern inscrutability (a twitch of the mouth, a blink of the eye is all you get), and never seems to enjoy the fruits of his labours. As we witness more than one unnecessary ritual suicide, not to mention removal of fingers, the suspicion arises that the deadly business is nothing more than a game of posturing manhood. This attempt by Jeremy Thomas to internationalise the Kitano phenomenon gets some mileage from the old culture clash thing (cf. The Yakuza, 1974) and has a millennial feel about it, a rewriting of the rule book, but is too long and, naturally, very violent.
Country: GB/FR/JAP
Technical: col 114m
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Claude Maki, Omar Epps, Masaya Katô
Synopsis:
Leaving Japan in order to defuse a conflict between yakuza factions, gangster Aniki winds up in L.A. where his kid brother is barely holding out with his fellow drug racketeers against their Latino overlords. Before long, Aniki is taking on the Latinos, rival Japanese gangsters and the Mafia.
Review:
Contrary to U.S. versions of the overweening gangster narrative, Kitano brings his trademark Eastern inscrutability (a twitch of the mouth, a blink of the eye is all you get), and never seems to enjoy the fruits of his labours. As we witness more than one unnecessary ritual suicide, not to mention removal of fingers, the suspicion arises that the deadly business is nothing more than a game of posturing manhood. This attempt by Jeremy Thomas to internationalise the Kitano phenomenon gets some mileage from the old culture clash thing (cf. The Yakuza, 1974) and has a millennial feel about it, a rewriting of the rule book, but is too long and, naturally, very violent.
Country: GB/FR/JAP
Technical: col 114m
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Claude Maki, Omar Epps, Masaya Katô
Synopsis:
Leaving Japan in order to defuse a conflict between yakuza factions, gangster Aniki winds up in L.A. where his kid brother is barely holding out with his fellow drug racketeers against their Latino overlords. Before long, Aniki is taking on the Latinos, rival Japanese gangsters and the Mafia.
Review:
Contrary to U.S. versions of the overweening gangster narrative, Kitano brings his trademark Eastern inscrutability (a twitch of the mouth, a blink of the eye is all you get), and never seems to enjoy the fruits of his labours. As we witness more than one unnecessary ritual suicide, not to mention removal of fingers, the suspicion arises that the deadly business is nothing more than a game of posturing manhood. This attempt by Jeremy Thomas to internationalise the Kitano phenomenon gets some mileage from the old culture clash thing (cf. The Yakuza, 1974) and has a millennial feel about it, a rewriting of the rule book, but is too long and, naturally, very violent.