Director & Screenwriter: Takeshi Kitano
Music: Joe Hisaishi
Paintings & Drawings: Takeshi Kitano
Cinematographer: Hideo Yamamoto
Lighting: Hitashi Takaya
Art Director: Nirihiro Isada
Editing: Takeshi Kitano, Yashinari Ota
Sound: Senjo Horiuchi
Yoshitaka Nishi: 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano
Miyuki (Nishi's Wife): Kayoko Kishimoto
Horibe: Ren Osugi
Nakamura: Susumu Terajima
Tesuko (Junkyard owner): Tetsu Watanabe |
"Hana-bi" is the 7th film by Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano, but the first to receive a theatrical release in Australia. In Japan Kitano is best known as "Beat Takeshi" - a rough-edged, wisecracking television comedian. Internationally he is known as the director, writer and star of films that savagely challenge the conformity and taboos within Japanese society. Australian filmgoers may remember Kitano the actor from "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" or more recently "Johnny Mnemonic".
Yoshitaka Nishi is a hard-bitten detective. His wife is dying and they have lost their only child. His police partner and friend is crippled after taking Nishi's place on a stakeout.
The surface of the film is tidy, formal - everything in its place - but we quickly become aware of the strong emotions boiling beneath the surface - emotions of love and loyalty, anger and violence - the extremes brought together in the title of the film: "Hana" means flower, the symbol of life, "bi" means fire/gunfire, the symbol of death.
Nishi quits the police force and borrowing money from the Yakusa (Japanese Mafia) sets about righting the wrongs he sees around him in his own distinctive way.
Don't expect a traditional chronological storyline - this is a film of discovery. The facts are revealed slowly and not necessarily in order. Like Nishi and his wife with their wooden puzzle, the viewer has to fit the pieces together in order to understand.
Every frame of "Hana-bi" is beautiful to look at, the performances superb and the dialogue sparse - a distinct help for those of us who don't speak Japanese and need to read the subtitles. The selection of small detail is stunning - a glance, a touch, a pair of shoes at the door, a child's tricycle - all speak volumes within the context of the film.
There are moments of intense violence, laughter and tenderness. Kitano shows both the dark and the light of life and the two come poignantly together in the central character.
"Hana-bi" may not be to every filmgoer's taste, but it is a rewarding film, a demonstration of film as art - visuals, performances and soundtrack coming together to create a beautiful, emotional and thought-provoking experience.
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