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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 |
 "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.  "The most compelling Yamamoto in the film is Yohji"The most interesting thing about this film was the costumes by Yohji Yamamoto. The characterisations were flat, with a complete lack of apparent motives, and the plot development struck me as more than a little far-fetched. Aniki is a man with no purpose, no feeling, no desire to stay alive, no anything. All he knows is that he is a Yakuza, and that is the life he must live. On the other hand, he isn't stupid, and doesn't seem particularly eager for death. So why does he so easily aquiesce when Shirase decides to take on the Mafia, a move he knows will bring certain death to his brothers? Perhaps it's because his girlfriend is dead and nothing matters anymore. Uhhh... yeah... Maybe I could believe that if the relationship between Aniki and his girlfriend was developed to any significant extent, or even if Aniki showed any warmth or hapiness when around her. But he seemed to care for her as little as he did for the other things in his life, so this explanation just doesn't wash. Maybe Aniki just doesn't care about anything. But we see that he does care for Denny, and earlier in the film he has shown that as an Aniki his first duty is towards his brothers. While he is not afraid to dies for them, and he will prevent them from dihonouring his gang, he also realises that alliances and compromises are sometimes necessary. As is all to often the case in this film, I just don't understand what the motivation behind this character is, and why we are suposed to believe in what he does. See the film if you live in the sticks and don't get to see much of Yohji's extraordinary clothes. Otherwise you may be better off seeing another Takeshi film such as Fireworks. A harsh review perhaps, but I saw this film hard on the heels of Mulholland Drive, and I really don't think anything can compare well to that magnificent film.  "Kitano's first US film is his most uncompromisingly Japanese"Of all the directors who have plundered the legacy of Jean-Pierre Melville for superficial treasure, Takeshi Kitano has always been the most intelligent, the most alert to the Frenchman's metaphysical drive. 'Brother', Kitano's mostly marvellous new feature, is imbued with all things Melville, from the opening silent wandering of yakuza hero Yamomoto, like Jef Costello in 'Le Samourai', and his Alain Delon-lookalike sidekick, to the muted blue color palette, the faceless glass buildings and grey ritual beach from 'Dirty Money'. Most pertinent, however, is Melville's under-rated 'Two men in Manhattan' (1959). That was Melville's first American film; this is Takeshi's; both directors' first cultural work in the country whose major urban genre they had made their own. And like Melville, instead of dealing with this new country and its customs, Kitano seems to have become more obsessively Japanese, even more interested in ritual, stylisation, nation, philosophy. In other words, Kitano has taken foreign money to make an uncompromisingly personal film which, like 'Boiling Point' and 'Kids' Return', turns the gangster film into a perverse rites-of-passage. "Better than Fireworks"BROTHER is irrefutably Takeshi's best work. I expected the film to be an attempt at "crossover success." (i.e. diluting his edgy and decidedly Japanese style of filmmaking in order to reach an American audience, and its money.) However upon seeing Brother in the theatres I was quite agreeably surprised. This is not "Yakuza 'n the Hood." BROTHER compromises nothing, and deserves to stand as Takeshi's definitive work. The characters are all superbly crafted, especially Beat's protagonist. Aniki, (Aniki means "brother" in Japanese) portrayed by the director, is driven by several less than congruent forces. As a veteran member of a disbanding yakuza clan, Aniki is forced to choose between allowing himself to be co-opted into a rival clan, or skipping his native shores (and the relative prosperity of his lifestyle) for American slums and petty drug trafficking with his younger brother. Faithfully choosing the latter, piety is first presented as Motus Operandi. Once he's reached the American ghetto, Aniki goes about reorganizing his kid brother's drug running stint along Yakuza lines. In a matter of weeks, a pack of entry-level hoodrats is elevated to God-like street status. At this point the complexity of storyline and character that marks Beat's work emerges. As the cartel reaches greater levels of success, Aniki ups the ante at an exponential rate, ushering increasingly younger kids into increasingly deadly situations. As the story develops, it is darker aspects of Aniki's personality - not piety - that come to the forefront. Somewhere amidst the impenetrable calm (a signature of Beat's acting style,)the protagonist is tortured by violence. Kitano's non-linear directorial style allows Aniki's trauma - memories of wars and fallen comrades - to play out graphically and repeatedly throughout the film, often and most effectively in juxtaposition to symbols of hope, joy and faith. As if a yakuza equivalent to Sartre's Antoine Roquentin, Aniki has seen through pretense to the violence that underlies human social relations, and this acute awareness necessarily precludes him from accepting those ideals and institutions that have historically borne the burden of making life appear precious. Taking mortality as his only truth, Aniki treads recklessly through these apparent falsities, family, love, (You've never seen such an apocalyptic breakup scene in any flick) and finally... I won't ruin it for you, just get this DVD. The only flaw to this movie is the final scene, in which one of the main characters gives a cathartic monologue that functions as a stand-in for the viewer's emotional response. Basically: "In case this movie went over your head, this is what you are supposed to feel." Call it a forgivable sin. It may insult the intelligence of a few American Beat fans who are familiar with the director's symbols and themes, but the vast majority of American theatre goers have never seen a movie like this before. "takashi does it again"another great movie from Beat Takashi..isnt as good as Fireworks but it still was a nice action/emotional film. I wish that the American characters had been more developed but overall the movie was spectacular. |
