Wonderful Movie

Touches You

Simply Perfect

Memorable, crazy movie

This is a perfectly judged movie. The peerless Takeshi Kitano moves almost wordlessly through this film conveying moments of genuine tenderness alongside vengeful violence. The mastery with which he alternates between the tender and the brutal without ever losing the pathos of his character Nishi's situation is stunning. As ever Kitano reaches for the simplistic as opposed to the bombastic - admirable for a movie peopled with comic book violent yakuza and characters shattered by the unfairness of life's mandatory dealing of the cards. Telling the story in violent flashback, Kitano balances his tale with a beautiful understated romanticism laced with comic tenderness. This is the film the deft editor, visionary director, multifaceted actor and comic genius was born to make.

I only once happened to get my fingers on Kitanos movie "Brother", which got me into checking out his other movies. So i got Hana Bi since it had a lot of good reviews. I can actually understand people, that mostly watch action flicks, getting bored by this film, but for those more into poetic films, this is just the thing for you. While short on dialog, the movie is stronger on the body language of all the characters... sometimes there isn't any dialog for more than 6 minutes or so, where you just have to watch in order to understand what he is trying to tell us... For me it the movie was a bit depressing and sometimes hard to follow, but i still enjoyed it a lot. But as i said, this movie is not for everyone.... The movie is about a cop in Japan who leaves the police to spend more time with his wife who is dying of cancer, and if that was not enough to bare with, he also lost a kid and his partner gets shot and paralyzed on the job. Now he has to deal with all these tragedies at the same time... So if you want a comparison, if you liked movies like "21 grams" for example, you will love this movie!

Takeshi Kitano's 'Hana-Bi' is something of an oddity. True to his previous efforts as director, the film contains its fair share of shockingly-graphic violence, and yet at its heart lies a touching tale of love, loyalty and devotion. For the entire running time, Kitano (who, aside from directing, also wrote and starred in the film) treads a perilously fine line between the two thematic extremes; it is an intricate balancing act that, if attempted by a less-talented filmmaker, might very possibly have turned into a complete cinematic disaster. Nevertheless, the director manages to pinpoint this perfect centre of balance, and the clash of beauty and violence combines to create a jarring amalgamation of conflicting emotional responses. We, as the audience, as simultaneously repulsed and entranced; as a whole, 'Hana-bi' is one of the most beautiful film experiences of the last decade or so.The title of the film itself acknowledges these opposing visual styles. Whilst the Japanese word 'Hanabi' translates to 'Fireworks' (the title under which it was released in the United States), the addition of the hyphen to the title ('Hana-bi') emphasises two individual components of the word, which translate respectively into "Fire" and "Flower," the collision of destruction and beauty/renewal. Much of the film concerns a cop named Yoshitaka Nishi (Kitano), who is forced to retire after a shooting on the job leaves his partner, Horibe (Ren Osugi), paralysed, alone and confined to a wheelchair. All the while, Nishi is still coming to terms with the impending loss of his wife, Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto), who is slowly dying from leukemia. As any grieving husband might do in such a situation, Nishi decides to quietly rob a bank, and he then uses most of the proceeds to fund a final loving family holiday for his ailing partner.The scenes between Nishi and his wife are among the most touching I've ever witnessed. Miyuki has only two lines in the entire film, and so the couple spend most of their time in complete silence and quiet reflection, and yet you can truly sense the affection that they both have for each other. Their love is completely unspoken, and this makes it all the more touching when Miyuki does finally speak. Another touching character is Horibe, the loyal police force partner whose crippling injury leaves him alone and depressed. After attempting suicide, Horibe receives painting materials in the mail, and he commits his emotions to canvas, finally uncovering a reason for his continued existence (importantly, the artwork we see in the film was actually created by Kitano in 1994, after a near-fatal motorcycle accident). The film's phenomenally moving soundtrack was composed by renowned Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, in his fourth collaboration with the director.There are very few negative criticisms that can be said of 'Hana-bi.' One possible item is that the film's unusual flashback structure made some plot-points difficult to follow, and I'm still unsure of which cop's lonesome widow Nishi was in the habit of visiting. However, that's the only critique that springs straight to mind. All in all, 'Hana-bi' is a gloriously assorted blend of violence, love and gentle humour, and a first viewing is not likely to be forgotten in a hurry.

This is fourth movie that I watched from Takeshi Kitano and I have to say that I'm a little disappointed with this one.I know that this is probably his most awarding movie but I don't think this is his best.Far from there.I find "Dolls" his greatest achievement.Don't get me wrong "Hana-bi" is very good movie but I expected something better.It's because Kitano put so high standards and sometimes it is hard to achieve them.The plot is about Yoshitaka Nishi who is cop and his wife is dying of Leukemia.His partner gets shot in the job and he ends up in a wheel chair.Nishi is trying to help him because he feels that somehow he's guilty for what happened.Soon Nishi leaves police so he can spend more time with his wife.All his life he did wright things and know he has to do all wrong things so he can survive.He soon sinks deeper and deeper in his problems that are leading to tragedy.I liked the plot but this isn't nothing new.What is new is Kitano's way in filming this one.His camera is excellent and that part is very good but something about this movie as whole didn't fit perfectly to me.I don't know what that is but "Dolls" are better to me.I'm repeating myself so I'll quit know.Just one more thing;fans of Kitano won't be disappointed with this movie and also this movie is a great way to become a fan of this great film-maker.