Sonatine

Like most of Beat Takeshi's movies, you have to really observe it, rather than watch it, to really appreciate his movies. His style is almost Zen-like in its lingering shots of people and scenery. You have to be very attentive to everything he presents to you, or you are just not going to "get it." People here in the US are used to being spoon fed their information and it's no different in US-made movies. They need to be told if the character is angry, sad, tired, etc... and movies like Sonatine tells you "hey, you're on your own, use your brain for once." In most Asian cultures, males tend not to verbally express their emotions, but they will show in their eyes and body language, which is why Westerners have such a hard time understanding our culture. I'm Chinese, born and raised in the US, and I found this movie to be a wonderfully complex and beautifully shot.

Having finally experience Sonatine, I can't say enough for this poignant and moving film. Beat Takeshi may face death with that same disconnected look on his face, but it is the inaction, the time between the killings, that carry all the meaning. Even when in gunbattles, nobody moves, nobody tries to dodge, it is as if everyone simply feels chained to their fate. This is jarring to Asian cinema lovers used to side-jumping, dual-gun gymnastics and amazing set pieces.

I love how the only emotions Murakawa expresses are humor and nihilist apathy. The "sumo scene" is so delightfully out-of-place, while the ending simply leaves your mouth open. The warmth the characters show just makes it more hurtful when they meet such pathetic, low-key ends. I'm not an expert on Japanese society, but I see this film as a comment on the emptiness of a fear-filled culture of reservation, where it is more important to show restraint and respect than it is to continue living.

I'll still enjoy good ol' HK pistol operas, but I'll never see them quite the same again.

I first wrote a review of this film here on IMDb back in June 2000. At the time I was totally in awe of the film, the script, the acting, the cinematography, the musical score and above all the direction from Tekashi "Beat" Kitano.

Some 18 months on and I still love the film and is certainly one of my top five international films. I have seen Kitano's latter films, Hana-bi, Brother, Tokyo Eyes & Gonin, and even though production values have improved, especially with Brother and Hana-Bi, I personally feel that Sonatine still remains Beat's best film to date.

In retrospect one can see within the film a vision of Beat's state of mind at the time. It is no secret that he tried to commit suicide in real life shortly after the completion of Sonatine. With this in mind it is easy to understand the motive within film and how it is structured within Kitano's head.

Even though it is a film about Yakuza and gangland killings Kitano doesn't fill every scene with a running commentary or 100mph action-fests. Instead Sonatine is very much an avante-garde kind of film with the "action" taking a backseat to the humdrum lives of the gangsters themselves.

Kitano is the boss of a successful Yakuza mob in central Tokyo at the expense of its poorer rivals. As a consequence a plot is hatched to get him and his members on a meaningless trip to Okinawa to sort out a peace-deal between waring factions and thus leaving his "patch" vulnerable to a take-over.

So Kitano's gang arrive in Okinawa only to find that there is no such "deal" but instead his gang are steadily killed off leaving only himself and 3 other gang members and an abandoned young woman, whom he saves from a rape ordeal by her husband

They move to the coast well away from central Okinawa and wait for the troubles to calm down before considering returning to Tokyo. During that time they have very little to do other than play beach games, sing songs or play Russian Roulette in order to pass the time.

But eventually even the beach hut where they live is no longer safe from the assassin's bullet and so Kitano has no other choice but to face his rivals once and for all in a bloody gun battle finale.

And so ends the film. It is not a happy film with no satisfying "Hollywoodesque" ending. Far from it, the ending only illustrates the working mind of Kitano at the time. In fact there are many examples within the film that underlines the bleak suicidal tendencies of his mind for real, especially the Russian Roulette scene.

It is also interesting that these gangsters think nothing of their own lives or safety: they accept their fate as a death-wish. They have witnessed so much death in their lives that they have lost their morality & humanity in themselves and to other people. So it is no surprise that during the various gun battles between rival groups neither Kitano or his men hide behind furniture in order to avoid the bullets. Instead they stand erect like statues firing their guns, hoping for the best waiting to be killed by their enemy in full view.

The life of the Yakuza in the context of this film, therefore, counts for little. They have no life, only a limited existence. There are few highlights - such as the Sumo scene, the firework fight and even the scene where Aya Kokumai removes her t-shirt in front of Kitano so that she is semi-nude before him. And yet not even this makes an impression on him. He is has become such an empty shell that even his sensual nature has long since gone, such is the life of a Yakuza warlord.

Critics would argue that this film is too anal for its own good, that nothing much happens and that the film is punctuated with "to camera" shots of the main protagonists looking vacant at the audience waiting for something to happen.

In my opinion these critics miss the point. There is a reason why they stare back at the camera/audience. There is no sparkle in their eyes, no smile playing on their lips, no supple skin tone, no positive body language to tell us that these people are really happy. Instead, we see nothing but ghosts, empty husks of humanity awaiting their fate with the silver bullet; they look at us as if they are pleading with us to put them out of their sad existence. They may have guns, the money, the power but they are not happy, they are not content, they are not you and me!

Sonatine remains one of the most influential films ever to come out of Japan. So impressed was I with this film that I created this IMDb login in honour of its majesty. Yes, it maybe seen as a sad act to name a login after a film but for me Tekeshi Kitano has yet to direct a better film and Sonatine will haunt me for all sorts of reasons for years to come, especially the excellent score from Joe Hisaishi.

*****/*****

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this film--I suspect I need to view it at least once, and probably several more times before I can get a good hold on it. However, my inability to fully comprehend what "Sonatine" is about doesn't strike me as a flaw. Rather, the film is much more complicated than the usual gangster film.

It begins with very unsentimentalized and nonglorified violence. People hit and kill each other and it isn't much different than toast popping out of the toaster. It is fast, moderately bloody, and there. Kitano doesn't seem to be interested in thrilling us with either the danger, grotesqueness, or thrill of violence--another, not clearly defined agenda is at work here.

At perhaps a third of the way into the film, it makes a sudden transition from this gangster life to a period of forced inactivity. I suspect this section, which is delightfully playful, is at the heart of this film.

Given the opening chapter's focus on internal Yakuza machinations and street-tough theatrics, it would be easy to reflexively label Sonatine as just another dose of dirty criminal intrigue. But then, when an inauspicious job goes sideways and the little crew of posh mobsters and crass underlings are forced into hiding, it takes a hard left and becomes something entirely different. Whiling the days and weeks away in an abandoned beach house, we explore the duality of these lives and soften their outer veneer.

In that sense, the internet-famous cover photo of writer/star/director Takeshi Kitano grinning broadly while holding a gun to his head is a precise depiction of the film's themes. These gangland thugs might be all business when they're intimidating store owners or trading bullets with a rival gang (nary an eyelash is batted when Kitano and company dunk a victim for too long and accidentally drown him), but on their down time, they need to cut loose, have a few laughs and make human connections, too. The really interesting points are where those two opposite modes meet, a jolting transformation when light amusement slams into stone-serious reality and all the easy smiles melt. There's always a momentary hesitation where we can't be certain which way the scales will tip, and that's dangerously exciting. Those key moments take time to develop, though, which leads the plot to really sag in the middle.

Kitano performs very well as the central figure, a stark dichotomy of incompatible moods, but he can't be on-screen at all times and isn't always surrounded by the best supporting talent. A strong thematic concept, one which evidently developed live in the field as the script was extremely bare bones, but not especially well-executed. Loaded with promising ideas, much of Sonatine's ephemeral potential depends upon what you, the viewer, are willing to bring to the table.