Hana-bi (Fireworks) - 1997
There's 3 Kitanos i haven't watched yet, but it's suprasensibly more important for me to let his most acclaimed film soak in more.
It is about a cop, played by Kitano, who's wife has some sort of medical condition, and his partner was killed.
As with all great films it is more than what it just sounds like on paper.
The directing, acting and soundtrack are the main components that make it so great.
A skilled enthusiast would write about it in the same kind of rapture that watching it entails.
Moods, pacing, quiet, slow, reflective, calming yet tinged with sadness. A wistful feeling one gets unmoored from life, wondering if that is all there is, and the [i]fireworks[/i] that make it so worth it and memorable.
Earlier i described my love of film as a chosen religion, and watching this film is just the kind of film that fulfills that sentiment.
Films of the past that profoundly effected me were different, they weren't always so tender and .... well some of them were, but the thing is i liked most of all the different kinds that were like extended music videos. Back then i put on a lofty pedastal those which put story a few rungs below style. Films like The Death of Maria Malibran, The Colors of Pomegranates, and Fruit of Paradise which were so visually striking it was like taking LSD. With films like Hana-bi, i think i'm experiencing a maturation, where a skillfully crafted story is fully embraced, and there are many then to rediscover and appreciate more fully as well as finding new ones to treasure with this shift in preferences.
It is about a cop, played by Kitano, who's wife has some sort of medical condition, and his partner was killed.
As with all great films it is more than what it just sounds like on paper.
The directing, acting and soundtrack are the main components that make it so great.
A skilled enthusiast would write about it in the same kind of rapture that watching it entails.
Moods, pacing, quiet, slow, reflective, calming yet tinged with sadness. A wistful feeling one gets unmoored from life, wondering if that is all there is, and the [i]fireworks[/i] that make it so worth it and memorable.
Earlier i described my love of film as a chosen religion, and watching this film is just the kind of film that fulfills that sentiment.
Films of the past that profoundly effected me were different, they weren't always so tender and .... well some of them were, but the thing is i liked most of all the different kinds that were like extended music videos. Back then i put on a lofty pedastal those which put story a few rungs below style. Films like The Death of Maria Malibran, The Colors of Pomegranates, and Fruit of Paradise which were so visually striking it was like taking LSD. With films like Hana-bi, i think i'm experiencing a maturation, where a skillfully crafted story is fully embraced, and there are many then to rediscover and appreciate more fully as well as finding new ones to treasure with this shift in preferences.
