Film Notes: Hanabi

Hanabi/Fireworks was the first Takeshi Kitano (also know as Beat Takeshi, as a comedian) film to garner a large amount of international attention when it won first prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1997. The multi-talented Kitano gets starring/directing/writing/and editing credit for this film. He is a busy man, he is constantly on TV and acts in other films and has written several books and writes columns. I hear that he will teach a course at Tokyo University on film this year as well. I’ve wanted to see it for some time but was waiting for a chance to see with subtitles in America or buy it on DVD. However, I’ve decided to start watching Japanese movies without subtitles again for listening practice. I think Kitano films are good for this, because they are largely devoid of lengthy scenes of dialogue and are mostly action driven. In the past I have seen Brother (which had some English since it was et in LA) and Zatoichi in Japanese. So I picked up Hanabi when I saw it on an end cap that’s promoting a new film that Kitano is starring in now, that is getting a lot of attention: Chitohone (Blood and Bones).

I think the title “Hanabi” (literally “fire flowers”) reflects the tone of the film. Nishi, a retired cop, robs a bank to provide for an injured partner and take his wife on one last trip around Japan. The action is interspersed with still shots of his colleague’s paintings (which were actually done by Kitano) and stunning shots of tranquility at temples and in nature. So in between subtle shots of tranquility, are jarring bursts of violence of the flashbacks of a stakeout gone bad in which his colleague is rendered a quadriplegic and another is killed and scenes where Nishi fights off Yakuza loan sharks who are trying to collect money that Nishi has borrowed. So there are long stretches of peacefulness (which may strain the patience of some viewers) interspersed with short bursts of violence-which produces a sort of effect like fireworks in the summer sky. I’m afraid some people might find the film too slow moving, which may be a sort to of Japanese film characteristic if you look at someone like Kurosawa who often employs a leisurely pace in most films. There are still a few Kitano films I haven’t seen yet and I look forward to seeing them.

Comments

[Edward]

I saw this in Australia, not long after it first came out. I remember liking it - mainly for its atmosphere, and for those contrasts you described in your blog entry. I think I'd not long come back from Japan (or was I about to go - I can't remember now) - so it was interesting to see the amazingly talented side of 'Beat Takeshi', the compere of many a low brow comedy show on TV. Perhaps this is where he makes his money.

[MC]

I think it's the zany TV stuff that allows Kitano to make these serious "arty" films, which I don't think are very lucrative. I think they are his creative outlet, and I imagine the TV stuff pays the bills.