Hana-Bi

Japan 1997, 103 minutes
Dir. Takeshi Kitano
In Japanese with English subtitles
Rating: [R18]
Genres: Foreign Cinema / Gangsters, Policier

Feat. Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osusi

Aroview: 'Beat' Takeshi cements his reputation as the modern visionary of Japanese cinema with his most celebrated film to date, returning as the formidably sullen, violent cop now on some kind of redemptive path…

His trademark bloodlust and razor-precise editing remains in full evidence, but here it is counterpointed with a disarming compassionate streak (especially conveyed through a series of art works painted by Takeshi himself while convalescing after a motor accident). The result is uncompromising yet uncommonly beautiful.

NZ International Film Festival 1998
Adopt-a-Movie Kindly Adopted by B.J. Fitzgibbon