Product: Brother [VHS]
Rating: 3.0
O "Brother", Are Thou "Art"?
This is the city. Los Angeles, California. Swimming pools, movie stars, and Yakuza hitmen fighting for control of the streets with Chicano druglords and African-American gangstas. Just another typical day in sunny SoCal, according to Japanese cult director "Beat" Takeshi Kitano, in his first U.S.-released film. Kitano directs himself as the "marked" Yakuza who flees to the States, hooks up with his "adopted" brother (a low-level L.A. drug dealer) and his pals, then becomes Crimelord of Los Angeles in what appears to be a period of only a month or two. Action fans will probably be somewhat sated just by the sheer number of killings (I stopped counting after the first 2 dozen) yet turned off by the deliberate pacing and long, static takes. Arthouse fans will admire the deft cinematic touches and hip music score, but will probably find the frequent shootings and self-mutilations a bit overboard. Kitano the actor (an acquired taste) is in top form; Kitano the director seems less confident than usual, as if he was deliberately "dumbing down" for U.S. audiences (and can anyone who has viewed a Vin Diesel movie blame him?). Best enjoyed if you don't think about it too much; genre fans might detect similarities to the existential 60's Yakuza cult classic "Tokyo Drifter".