Product: Brother [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
Emotive violent drama
I meant to see this in the cinema with a friend but we never got round to it so as soon as it came out on DVD I had already planned an evening in.To give a bit of background, Kitano plays Aniki Yamamoto, a Japanese gangster forced to leave Japan for Los Angeles. In a place where he doesn't understand a word of language he finds his younger brother Ken. Within moments Aniki is up to his usual antics - starting gang wars and turns his brother and his drug dealing side-kicks into a prominent yakuza force in LA.I loved this movie so much. Yes it's violent but Kitano never directs the movie as to glorify it.It's not the violent moments that make the film but the more quieter moments where the friendship of Yamamoto and his new-found friends grow, blossom and fade all too quickly.Omar Epps is sublime as Denny, whom Kitano's character forms an unlikely friendship and the two actors play off one another superbly.Make no mistake, this is a violent film but Kitano still manages to inject some moments of hilarity. The board meeting with the Mexican crime lords had my sides splitting where Ken has to translate for his older brother, Aniki.This is a beautiful, thinking man's gangster film - so unlike a lot of the tripe you see today. There's beauty, happiness, tradgedy and action all flowing from one superbly shot Kitano scene to the next. It has to be said also that Joe Hisashi's score and soundtrack are wonderful to behold.If you're a Kitano fan then this is a must-see and it's also worthwhile if you've never seen a Kitano film and are looking for something refreshing in the action-gangster genre.In my opinion Kitano's style will never appeal to the mainstream western cinema but this fantastic effort ensures that his fan-base and credibility in the west is surely justified and he can probably add some new fans after this one as well.Compelling viewing.