Sonatine (1993)

A yakuza and his clan are profiting in an affluent business turf . Their greedy boss sends them to Okinawa to end a gang war ... But when they arrive they learn there's no gang war to begin with . The yakuza are suspicious of their boss because his last assignment led to several members being slain , and the patterns are repeating again during their new mission . They decide to lay low on the beach and enjoy some peace time in their everyday violent lives .The beginning of Kitano "poetic art-house" movies

Well this is the third and final film in the 'Beat' Takeshi trilogy that I picked up on DVD, the first two being VIOLENT COP and BOILING POINT. SONATINE is the best of the trilogy, the most mature and the film with the best atmosphere. Despite the violent shenanigans of the film's plot, involving rival gangsters killing each other, for the most part this is a tranquil outing shattered only by bursts of extreme violence. It's also a film with a lot of humour, most of it utterly surreal (such as when two wrestlers become toys thanks to some sped-up camera effects). For most of the film, it's simply a bunch of guys having fun at a beach house, by pulling pranks on each other and playing games. Despite that the film never becomes boring because there's a simmering undercurrent of violence that you know has to erupt at some point.Once again the presence of 'Beat' Takeshi lifts the movie another level and the whole film hinges on his outstanding performance. This time he's a typical gangster, plagued with a hidden desire to kill himself. Takeshi has mastered the Japanese 'cold face' well yet it's also a pleasure to see him in some warmer moments as I get the feeling he isn't such a nasty character this time around – certainly not like the rapist he played in BOILING POINT. The supporting cast is very good indeed and the photography on the film is excellent. The violence, in the form of bloody shoot-outs, is nothing new, yet executed with a certain level of finesse that makes it stand out. Watch out for the shoot-outs where time (and the characters) literally stand still as fates are meted out. Add lots of bizarre stuff going on, Japanese humour, and a great twist ending, and you have what amounts to a nice, unusual little film.

Takeshi Kitano has a really strange but oddly touching mind when it comes to making movies. I've only seen two at the moment, this and Zatoichi, but they reveal a filmmaker who is so not content with doing something "normal" in the genre and at the same time has something relating to respect for the formal attitudes with what he's doing. This isn't a crazy Yakuza movie, for example, in the vein of a Takashi Miike. There's a far more sinister and just flat out cold core that Kitano wants to reach with Sonatine, and it's not through going for an outlandish visual style. It's maybe closer to minimalism, but then that's not entirely correct either. The closest one sees to how detached, if that's the term, Kitano makes his characters, just watch the scene where the yakuza have the one member tied to the crane and dip him slowly, agonizingly into the water, pull him up, and dunk him again. The way this is shot, edited, acted, all refers to the tone of the piece. Kitano may not play by the "rules", if there are any, but it's exciting to see him go in unexpected directions.If you're expecting what the video-case is advertising (i.e. the not quite correct comparison as "Strongly reminiscent of Goodfellas"), you'll be thrown for a loop, and possibly not in the way you'd like. But if one meets Kitano half-way, then there's ample room to be absorbed in these characters. This is important, and maybe the one thing right about comparing to Goodfellas, which is that Kitano has here some very curious characters, and only worries about a semblance of plot from time to time. We're given a host of gangsters, led by Murakawa (Kitano), who have to hide out for a while at some remote cabin by a beach while a gang-war is brewing. At first, it appears liken Kitano is making a standard if very oddly interesting genre piece, with a beating in a bathroom, a shooting at a bar, and some of the usual curses flying and men in suits talking of business affairs.But even in these early scenes something doesn't feel quite realistic, despite the appearances of the ordinary. Just watching that shootout at the bar, everything seems kind of calm, however a surprise, when the bullets start flying and Murakawa and his guys shoot against some rivals. They look placid, not excited or with the usual amount of adrenaline flowing. After this, the story moves to that big middle chunk of the picture, where Murakawa and the others have a kind of playful attitude with things. What may appear to be meandering on the part of Kitano here is actually part of the point: they play Russian roulette, they do sumo wrestling (this part is especially crazy in fast-motion and music all wacky), they put on some mock plays, and Murakawa gets closer to a woman (Kokumai) who he saved from a rape. All the while we see Murakawa enjoying himself, smiling, laughing, going along with the thugs who simply want a good strong shower, trying to block out the inevitable- going back to the impending gang war.In a sense with Kitano and Sonatine, it's not what's there but what isn't. When violence occurs we get to see the blood, but it's not frantic; blood flows for a moment and we see little struggle (save for the one guy in the back of the car, which I won't say much more to spoil). I'm even reminded of Jean-Pierre Melville in how Kitano treats his "hero" in the final act, how things get even colder and more fragmented in Murakawa's mind, and yet one can't take their eyes away from the mood of it all. There's something extreme about Sonatine, and it's mostly under the surface, and it reveals a cruel and dark but also lighthearted side of Kitano that is extraordinary (apparently, he was in a very depressed state when creating it, which almost makes it like an act of cinematic purging of his soul). While it veers into being mundane in one or two scenes, and a couple of performances don't quite work, just watching Kitano and his placid profile, occasionally breaking into a smile like when he mentions killing his father as a teenager, is enough to merit it a worthwhile experience. In fact, it's almost on par with the excellence of Zatoichi, and in its own way more ambitious.

This film is one of my all time favourites for chilling out to at night. The cinematography is beautiful, making full use of the lovely beaches of Okinawa, and the shots tend to linger on a face or a car driving off into the distance, which creates a sort of hypnotic effect on the viewer. The score is beautifully composed by Joe Hisaishi, who also gave you the music for Spirited Away. Personally, I think that the film wouldn't be half as good if it wasn't for the music.Plot wise, it's quite basic. A group of Yakuza are assigned to Okinawa to make peace with a rival clan. Things go horribly wrong and they take shelter in a disused beach hut. I think the main subject the film deals with is what guys do to make the most of a bad situation. There is an underlying theme of helplessness and pessimism......Maybe self realisation. Although there is never any feeling shown by the main character, you get a perfect picture of the characters state through Kitano's relaxed acting style. He reminds me of an oriental mix of DeNiro and Keitel.All in all, a classic film that speaks in whispers.Andy