I just started getting into contemporary Japanese films a few months ago. Before that, the only Japanese directors whose work I’d seen were Akira Kurosawa and Shinya Tsukamoto, who I’ve been a fan of since Tetsuo: The Iron Man was released in the U.S. Last year I became a fan of Takashi Miike, and while looking him up his name at IMDB to see what he was up to, I saw that his upcoming movie is starring Takeshi Kitano, who I remembered from his role in Battle Royale. I checked out Kitano’s profile and became really interested in his movies after learning that he’s directed eleven movies, especially after reading more about him at the IMDB message boards.
So, I bought two of his movies, Hana-Bi (released in the U.S. as Fireworks) and Dolls, which a lot of reviews claim is a disappointment from Kitano, but it sounded interesting to me.
MINOR SPOILERS BELOW (Though nothing you won’t see in reviews of the movies or in product descriptions at online retailers.)
Hana-Bi is about a tough cop who, during a stakeout, is urged by his partner to take a few hours off to visit his terminally ill wife at the nearby hospital where she is being treated. While he’s gone, things go terribly wrong and his partner is left paralized while another cop is killed. To make her last days happier, he borrows money from a yakuza (gangster), but when he can’t pay him on time, the yakuza sends his thugs after him.
I liked it, though I don’t think it’s the masterpiece it’s been written up to be. I probably need to see it again, though, since I’ve only seen it once. In addition to directing Hana-Bi, Kitano also starred in it (billed as “Beat” Takeshi, as he always is as an actor) and painted all the artwork in the film. He has great screen presence and plays his role with toughness, humor and heart. The scenes with his wife during her last days are poignant and touching, but believable, unlike the “tender” scenes in action dramas starring Hollywood actors.
Dolls is three interwoven stories (the characters from the different stories don’t really have anything to do with each other, but they walk past each other at various points in the movie). The first is about a man’s guilt and devotion to the woman he loves. After causing her a breakdown that nearly costs her life and leaves her unwilling to speak, he binds himself to her with a red rope to keep her from harming herself and they travel by foot across Japan for months searching for what they’ve lost.
The second is about an aging yakuza reflecting on the sacrifices he made for a successful life in crime. He remembers the girlfriend he left to go make something of himself and her promise to meet him at a park every afternoon for lunch, so he decides to go to that same park to find her.
The third story is about beautiful young pop singer who meets her most devoted fan after she becomes a recluse following a car accident that leaves her disfigured.
Dolls was easily my favorite, a beautiful story with gorgeous visuals, full of sadness and melancholy. A huge departure from the tough guy movies Kitano is known for, which I suspect is why many critics and fans were disappointed. I think I was able to appreciate it more because I didn’t know what to expect in a Kitano film, so I watched it with an open mind. The story of the couple joined by the red rope was by far my favorite, though it’s also the most fully developed one (and I think it’s the one that anchors the movie). The final six minutes were among the saddest I’ve ever seen in a movie, as sad as anything in Lars Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark or The Idiots. I really can’t wait to watch it again, though.
Anyway, I also ordered Zatoichi, his newest film, which is a samurai epic, and hope to have it within the next two weeks.
I don’t know of any other message boards where movies of this type are discussed and since Dopers have pretty varied tastes in movies, I was hoping that a few of you here were into his stuff also and could maybe recommend what I should get next. Also, did anyone else besides me love Dolls?
What happened at the end of Hana-Bi? The shots are off camera, so I wasn’t sure who got shot and by whom.
For those of you who aren’t familar with Kitano’s work, check out http://www.midnighteye.com to learn more about him. It’s an excellent site about Japanese movies and I’ve learned a lot from there. I bought his movies at http://www.yesasia.com (the Korean edition of Hana-Bi) and http://www.diabolikdvd.com (for Dolls). Most of Kitano’s movies are on NTSC Region 1 DVD (not sure about Dolls), but I bought the Region 3 Hana-Bi because I read bad things at IMDB about the U.S. edition being cut.