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Brother Actors: Takeshi Kitano, Kuroudo Maki Director: Takeshi Kitano Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen, Closed-captioned, Dolby Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 113 minutes Studio: Columbia/Tristar Studios Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2002-01-02 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com It's hard to describe the hypnotic authority of director and actor Takeshi Kitano. In his first American venture, Brother, Kitano plays a yakuza who's been exiled from Japan after the death of his boss. In Los Angeles, he discovers that his half-brother has become a small-time hood. Kitano quickly takes over, casually setting in motion gang wars and killing sprees. But a basketball game gets as much emphasis as an assassination; Kitano's camera watches a dead body lit up by the flash of gunshots, completely ignoring the shootout that's causing the light. Yet his movies don't seem arty, just efficient--and effective: you may not know whether to laugh or flinch, but you will not stop watching. As an actor, Kitano slouches, twitches, and stares blankly--but you won't stop watching him either. If you like Brother, check out Fireworks and Sonatine; gangsters will never seem the same. --Bret Fetzer |
 "Very Real and Good"I rented this movie not really expecting much of it. When I started to watch it I found the flow of the movie very appealing to me. It is about an exiled Yakuza that goes to america to live with his brother that he sent to college only to find out that his brother is a street thug drug pusher. The movie then follows along how the exiled Yakuza moves his useless brother and worthless friends up in the ranks of the underworld Yakuza style and their eventual fall in a very realistic way. People are saying that the movie is boring but i think they were expecting the wrong things from it. This movie is not really an action movie anyway. It is very real in the sense of the route some people take and the way they end up because of it. I would say rent it and not buy it although it is a very good movie see it for yourself then decide. Yes the movie is not totally action packed and yes it moves along a slower pace but that realism is actually enjoyable to me rather than seeing constant gun battles for no reason or very stupid fight scenes like the crazy 88's in Kill Bill as another reviewer mentioned. "A great movie - beyond just violence"Beat Takeshi provides another violent movie, whose purpose seems to be that violence begets violence, and ultimately it's a dead end. The basic plot has Takeshi playing a yakuza forced to leave Japan upon the death of his boss. He finds his half brother in LA pushing drugs rather than attending school. Takeshi violently turns the small time crew into a major crime cartel. Yakuza themes of loyalty to family and honor over life pervade the movie. The omnipresent violence somehow avoids being gratuitous, perhaps because one realizes how more graphic it could have been. Unlike traditional western shoot 'em ups, we are left with the aftermath instead of the fight scenes themselves. At times it is hard to follow the plot and remember who is on whose sides, but perhaps that is the point.  "boring"This movie was really boring. It was slow and uninteresting. the man who did this movie is the one trying to bring back the Zatoichi series. I have not seen the new Zatoichi movie yet but this movie gives me great doubts about how good it will be. His other movies may be good but this one is a definite time waster. Save yourselves. "One of the best films I have seen."I am fed up with people talking about how kill bill is such a good film. I watched this film about a week after I saw Kill Bill and I honestly think this is the better film. I watched it 3 times. The way Beat' integrates american and japanese culture makes this film standout. The scene where his luitenent plays basketball with one of his brothers friends stands out. Another scene is when they go to attack the mafia, all you see is flashes of gunfire while this young boy is dead in the car. This is a moving film, asides the infruequent gore, You feel a great sympathy for the characters. Kill bill has no technique at all especially when she is fighting the crazy 88 or whatever. I have seen more technique in Iron Monkey (an old skool martial arts film)The awkward ending leaves you distraught with no hope, but that is the point of the film and 'Beat' portays it that way.  "The coolest man on Earth"Kitano's first (and only) feature film foray into English language territory, BROTHER may be Kitano at his simplest, but most certainly at his coolest - since Hana Bi, anyway. Kitano plays a disgraced Yakuza foot soldier whose extreme behaviour sees him exiled in the US, where his younger brother lives. Kitano starts his new life exactly where his old life left of - with extreme violence. This is Kitano at the height of his self-destructive performances. Separated from his "family", adrift in a banal culture, with little understanding of the language, his fast and fiery rise to power is bested only by his rapid decline. One gripe: when are we going to see more features - particularly commentaries - on Kitano DVDs. Even ZATOICHI is barren of such DVD basics. |
