Fireworks
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DVD details
Actor: Hakuryu, Makoto Ashikawa, Setchin Kawaya, Taro Istumi, Yuuko DaikePrimary Contributor: Kayoko Kishimoto
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.85:1
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-06-27
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: New Yorker Video
DVD Reviews of Fireworks
DVD Review: One of Kitano's best.
Summary: 5 Stars
Hana-bi (Takeshi Kitano, 1997)
Get a group of Kitano otaku in one place and debate will rage for hours on the subject of which of his films is the best. Eventually, everyone will settle down into three camps-- Kikujiro (which is where you'll find me), Sonatine, and Hana-Bi. All three factions can make strong, valid arguments for their movies, and really it all comes down to personal taste in the end. This is not to say that a person from faction A won't like faction B's favorite movie; all of Kitano's films that I've seen are fantastic (with the exception of Brother, but that's enough brainless fun that it gets a pass), and Hana-bi? is no exception.
Nishi (Kitano) is a cop who's life is really hitting the bricks. His wife Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto, in the first of her pairings with Takeshi) is dying of leukemia. His partner Horibe (Ren Osugi, who it sometimes seems is in every Japanese film ever made; he made five film and two recurring TV appearances in 2006 alone) has been paralyzed in a bust gone bad. Nishi feels the need to help them both, but to do so would require him to give up his job; what they most need is time. Which brings us to the question: is it possible to do evil things to insure good outcomes?
The one thing everyone seems to say about this movie is that it's gorgeous, and that's certainly the case; Kitano is capable of finding the beauty in just about any location in which he chooses to film. It's almost a trademark. As you should also expect from a Kitano film, the characters are exquisitely drawn, and the action is fast and furious, lending the film's quieter moments just that much more emotion (how do you get the audience to tear up over a man opening a box of painting supplies? Ask Takeshi Kitano. He did it here). At least one critic (Piero Scruffi) has selected Hana-bi as one of the top 1000 films of all time, and it also shows up in the collected and weighted list of the thousand best found at They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?. I believe these accolades are not without merit, though I do think Kitano has done better work (as I mentioned above). Still, a Takeshi Kitano film is better than 99% of the muck you're going to see on DVD or in the theater this year, and Hana-bi is near the top of his output. Strongly recommended. **** ?
DVD Review: Fire flowers!
Summary: 5 Stars
Takeshi Kitano is one of the most prominent Japanese filmmakers in the last two decades. His personal optical deals with the thriller as reference point to explore those powerful insights inscribed inside the human soul.
So, "Fireworks" deals with two sides of a same coin; love and violence being this last concept approached from a very curious perspective: the violence acting as device of a major justice.
Nishi (Our star cop) has a dying wife in a hospital (victim of cancer) and besides he has decided to retire himself (a redemption act) after a terrible shoot leaves his friend invalid and crippled. Both tragedies compel him to act with much more coldness respect the Yakuza gang before he finedraws hos own destiny.
The flash backs are superb; as well the edition process; but one the supreme highlights of the movie are the marvelous contrasts between the nature and the paintings of his crippled friend, where the flowers take the place of the faces in every being he represents.
A slow peaced thriller that must be seen and loved with meridian intensity, because of the fact the very possibility to blend a thriller with visual poetry, is not precisely the rule but the exception. A human drama told without ostentation but with absolute conviction of this troubled dramatis personae between love, remorse and duty.
DVD Review: Great Film, Disgusting Transfer
Summary: 2 Stars
Why am i writing this review? I guess the only reasons are to state what a great masterpiece not only of Kitano's work, but of cinema this movie is, and to state my disgust at the insulting DVD quality of this. Its not DVD quality, and it certainly does not live up to the beautiful 35mm picture. The cheap third rate transfer renders everyhting under-exposed, de-saturated and "viedeo-y". When the camer pans, for instance, it looks like you're watching a DV recording of Hana-bi on a tv set. you see the digital lines, for Christ sake! Sadly, the options are slim. One can get the VHS which is pan and scanned, or deal with this ONLY friggin' region 1 DVD. HIGHLY RECOMENDED FILM, however, beware of an aweful and unacceptable transfer. I lost much, if not all respect for New Yoker Films. its a mockery to all lovers of movies. DVD Review: Hana-Bi
Summary: 5 Stars
An eccentric, wildly unpredictable gem from writer-director-star Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, this hard-boiled cop story veers from quiet, tender sentimentalism to explosive, in-your-face violence. Hiding behind mirrored shades for much of the film, Kitano plays Nishi--a devoted husband and friend, and a super-deadly foe--with ice-cool, nearly wordless reserve. Aside from an involuntary facial tic, Nishi's mask-like face rarely changes, even when he's blasting away at bad guys. "Fireworks" is a poetic crime-thriller from one of Japan's preeminent icons.DVD Review: Kitano's best....
Summary: 5 Stars
I have seen many Takeshi Kitano films, but this one haunts me especially. It's very poetic, sad, beautiful, and complex. What can you say about a Yakuza film that begins with serene, tender paintings (done by Kitano himself). Kitano gives probably one of his better performances here, playing yet another version of a disillusioned cop, but with more depth this time. This is not to say that his other films were shallow (quite the contrary), but here the emotional resonance makes this film even more moving and powerful. Yes, it's violent, but with all Kitano films, he doesn't wallow in it, even though it's brutal. I've always liked everything this man has done (even his comedy Kikujiro, which got terrible reviews), and this is probably my favorite of his films.
Description of Fireworks
A superstar and cultural icon in his native Japan, Takeshi "Beat" Kitano has conquered more than one medium, but he is best known in the West for his remarkable films. Among those, Fireworks is the clear favorite, a taut and enigmatic noir that fluctuates between perfect stillness and savage eruptions of violence.Kitano plays a cop named Nishi, a determinedly impassive man whose face occasionally ripples with an involuntary tic, hinting at the explosive but contained forces within. Nishi's wife (Kayato Kishimoto) is dying of leukemia, a disease that already killed their child, and he cares for her with a shattering tenderness. While on a stakeout, Nishi takes a break to check in on her, and while he's gone his partner is crippled and another officer is killed. With death hovering at home and a score to settle outside, Kitano's hero sets off on an isolated course to seek justice.
Few filmmakers have understood as well as Kitano has here the irresistible draw of a thriller told with a moody calmness, with an eye toward graceful construction and rigorous composition. The careful, unhurried dispensing of story information also helps keep the focus on Nishi's warrior soul, on his mysterious capacity for the extremes of gentleness and brutality. The story here is the way one man can be the sum of such bold contradictions, and a great story it?is. --Tom Keogh
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