Product: Brother [VHS]
Rating: 4.0
Brutal and formulaic, but I kinda liked it...
I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Takeshi Kitano. I think he's got a HUGE ego, likes to put his own image on screen far too much, can overindulge in sentimentality, and occasionally offers filmic messages which border on being fascist. At his worst, his films are extremely hostile towards people who look or behave outside the norm -- see the scene in FIREWORKS where, disguised as a cop, Takeshi pretends to shoot a long haired kid from his car window; it's EASY RIDER from the point of view of the rednecks in the pickup. He seems to advocate a shoot-first-ask-questions-later defense of the family, the home, etc., which seems to identify him with the more conservative or right-leaning aspects of Japanese society, which leaves me (and some more progressive Japanese) with misgivings about his work. His movies also are brutally violent -- there's a scene in BROTHER where my hands leapt to my face and I cried out involuntarily, which I just don't DO in movies. All that said, I rather enjoyed this film. It's a relatively simple tale of loyalty and friendship among mobsters. Takeshi is a Yakuza who goes looking for his brother in LA, and ends up working with his brother's gang to take over drug distribution in their neighborhood, going to war with other gangs to do so. Some of the violence here doesn't seem to have much to do with the story -- there are scenes of finger-cuttings and hara-kiri that aren't really that justified in terms of the narrative -- and as I say, there is some very extreme brutality from time to time -- but if you don't mind violent cinema, are interested in the Yakuza, like gangster movies, or just like to watch smartly-made films, BROTHER is ultimately rewarding and enjoyable. It doesn't break much new ground, but it kept my interest up. The supporting cast, by the way, are quite good; Takeshi seems as able to direct in English as in Japanese. As far as I know, this is his first film since JOHNNY MNEMONIC (which he merely acted in) that has a substantially English-speaking cast....