Boiling Point

Boiling Point (1990) is a very intriguing film-the second Takeshi Kitano directed after Violent Cop. It is similar in that it has some of the same violence, some of the parallel structures in the film, and also has a controversial ending. But it is much more experimental and has perhaps more misogyny than its predecessor. That being said it also has some very arresting images and impressive framing and cinematography. Two members of an amateur baseball team go to Okinawa to get a gun to help out their manager who is in trouble with the yakuza. While there they befriend the inexplicable Kitano character who is a local gangster who has his own score to settle and engages in some violent and unpredictable behavior in regards to his henchman and girlfriend. The later that he treats consistently cruelly. The two baseball players return to Tokyo to try and help their friend. But what happens causes the viewer to reevaluate everything that has happened in the film up to that point.