Product: Brother [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
ANOTHER GREAT FILM FROM A GREAT DIRECTOR
Acclaimed director Takeshi Kitano -winner of the Golden Lion in Venice '97 for his film "Fireworks"- is again behind the camera directing Brother, his ninth film to date. Kitano also plays the role of the main character as he has done in most of his films.The movie tells us the story of Yamamoto, a member of the Yakuza -the Japanese Mob-, who is expelled from the brotherhood he belongs to due to the betrayal of several members of his clan. He's given up for dead and moves from Tokyo to Los Angeles where he has a younger brother who survives as a modest drug dealer. Then, they begin to wipe out their opponents and thanks to Yamamoto's courage and insight they will become a powerful clan that controls several city areas. However, on their way to seize power, they meet their match and things will begin to go downhill. I won't spoil the ending but I must say that it's a thrilling and emotive one.Kitano offers to the audience an electrifying portrayal of the Yakuza, its motivations and, most of all, its code of honor. The film can also be described as a tragedy because there's a sense of fatality which indicates that everything in the movie moves toward their end. The film depicts the state of mind of a man(Yamamoto)who has lost everything in which he believed and who has become a stateless person, an uprooted drifter shunned from his cultural environment with a ticket of no return.As in other previous films by this director, deadpan humor is also present but perhaps not so constant as in other movies. There's also an underlying parody of the genre of action and noir films in the realistic and, at the same time, exaggerated way that Kitano describes violence.Another remarkable aspect is the marvellous soundtrack composed by Kitano's longtime collaborator, Joe Hisaishi. A tranquil and melodic score that apparently contrasts with the violence that surrounds the film and which features orchestral and minimal music accompanied by free jazz and rock with absolute perfection in an unparalled exercise of emotional intensity.To finish I'll just say that, in my humble opinion, Brother is an exciting film that is worth seeing and which proves, one more time, that Takeshi Kitano is one of the most talented and distinctive filmmakers of our days.