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Fireworks Actors: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto Director: Takeshi Kitano Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Letterbox Format: Color, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 99 minutes Studio: New Yorker Films Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2000-07-11 Buy from Amazon |
 "Excellent Film"I'm glad to see that this is film is available (and on DVD, too, best of all). I saw it and really liked it. It's a dark kind of poignant, this movie.  "The Perfect Kitano Film for Beginners!"In case you have never seen a Takeshi Kitano film, this would be the perfect one to start with. Although it's not his first film (that honor belongs to the equally excellent VIOLENT COP), it contains all of the trademarks that would make him an international star: The quiet scenes which suddenly erupt into shocking violence, his apparent lack of emotions, an abundance of drama, etc. Kitano (who always acts under the name "Beat" Takeshi), stars as the seemingly mild-mannered Detective Nishi. However, the anger inside of him is brought out when his partner on the force is paralyzed from the waste down and is confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. As if that's not enough, he then finds out his wife is dying of a disease. His true self comes into light when members of the yakuza track him down, demanding the money he borrowed from them for his wife's operation. This has some of the most surprising scenes of violence I have ever witnessed in a film. In what other film is the main star sitting calmly at a table one minute, and shoving chopsticks in a man's eye the next?  "Kurosawa Wept"Technically, the film is "kinetic" (what any film should be), psychologically it is cartoon, intellectually it is deplorable. It is as if Kurosawa had recovered from a terrible head injury and began making films from his spleen. Flashy and uncompelling, Kitano's work is more sophisticated than Woo's, which should get him a lucrative Hollywood contract. What it gets me is a headache. To any of the people who praised this film to the skies, I ask "Are you acquainted with the name Ozu? Mizoguchi? Naruse? Teshigahara? Kobayashi, even?" If the answer is "yes," then you cannot condone the continued irritation of someone like Kitano. And one more question, the one perennially asked of so-called modern art: can the term 'beauty' be redefined by its opposite? "Film's Violence Secondary to "Beat" Kitano's Performance"Takeshi "Beat" Kitano shares Michael Caine's mastery of understatement, non-verbal clue, and eye contact. If you're looking for a cinema actor of the first rank, Kitano is the man, and "Fireworks" displays him at the top of his form. Usually hyped for its violence, "Fireworks" could just as easily be classed as a study in tenderness. Kitano's self-sacrifice for his crippled partner and dying wife is the true theme of this picture. This 1997 Venice Film Festival Grand Prize Winner is a fine introduction to Kitano's work. I was so struck by this work that I viewed it three times in a row - first for the initial impression, second to study Kitano's direction, and last to revel in his technical mastery of the actor's craft. I advice you to do the same. "Unnerving and brilliant""Beat" Takeshi Kitano's bleak masterpiece. Takeshi plays a policeman who simply wants to stick around long enough to take care of his dying wife, but his terrible propensity for violence may undo that. Mostly played in silence and stillness except for when the (anti?)hero's rage unspools. Film is also relatively unique in that it does not attempt to ascribe a specific psychology to the man's behavior but simply stands back and observes him in toto. One of the few "nihilistic" films that is actually ABOUT nihilism instead of simply an indulgence in it, and one of the few movies that uses violence to underscore its story intelligently instead of see it as a kind of mindless contact sport. |
