Boiling Point

A lot of the comments have been about the film's relationship to the nature of violence, and it's true that it is a violent film. However, that's not the point of the movie. The film starts showing a young man sitting in the dark. He comes out into the light and walks slowly to where the action is taking place. He is dull, uninvolved, uninterested in what's going on. In the beginning, events happen to him. It is only after he is attacked by a hoodlum that he begins to take action himself. He volunteers for the mission to buy a gun and while on that expedition he is exposed to a wide variety of experiences that force him to become a more active personality. After his return he shows himself to be a take charge guy. The symbolism of the butterfly eggs is one of metamorphosis. The title "Boiling Point" has a meaning of change, the point at which water turns to steam. Finally, the last scene is of him in the same darkness as he was at the beginning, but this time when he emerges his movements are quick and jaunty. He is a different man.

While not as good as some of Takeshi Kitano's other films like Violent Cop or Fireworks, this still has much to recommend it. For one, this has Kitano's always-stunning direction and twisted mix of comedy and shocking violence. Kitano himself appears in a small role as a gangster, and it's perhaps his most twisted role to date. I would probably only recommend this film to Kitano fans, since it is very muddled and not as tight as his other films. But as a Kitano fan myself, I did like it very much.

Takeshi Kitano's yakuza related trilogy consists of Violent Cop, Boiling Point and Sonatine. All these films are very different together, but they still share the usual elements of Kitano: Violent Cop is the bleakest, Boiling Point is the funniest and also oddest and Sonatine is like the combination of these two previous films, and Sonatine is also the greatest in the trilogy and also one of Kitano's most beautiful and greatest films. Boiling Point is very comic, but has also some Kitano elements of beauty and peace that we could see in his forthcoming films like Sonatine and Hana-Bi. Boiling Point tells the story of a baseball team and its relationship with the local ruthless yakuza gang. When couple of the team members decide to get a gun and fight some justice to the situation, we meet Kitano's character, a little criminal, who also has troubles with the yakuza. Kitano's character in this film is the most perverse and twisted I've ever seen! What follows is tragic and comic happenings as these tragicomic people try to get rid of the greedy and exploiting yakuza criminals, and stay alive at the same time.

There are many fine elements in this film, and this is pretty close to Sonatine, as both films have peaceful and incredibly beautiful scenes involving sea and flowers. The comic elements are very black and it is easy to see that Kitano was a comedian before starting his masterful directing career. His humor is often cynical, ironic and very personal. Just remember the scene at the bar, for instance! Kitano's humor demands brains to be fully understood and it is never as easy to laugh at and enjoy as some Jim Carrey farce (nothing against Jim, though). But Boiling Point is definitely not a mere comedy, it is a Japanese yakuza story with comical elements. The yakuza is presented here as stupid and childish bunch of criminals, who have to prove themselves that they are bad guys and worth respecting. There is a brilliant scene involving flowers and two machine guns, as Kitano and his pal decide to finish the miserable life of one yakuza team! In Kitano's films, usually guns are for men like extended penis: so important in order to "be someone." Violence is usually the only way Kitano's characters are able to communicate together.

The elements of beauty are always heart stoppingly effective in Kitano's art, and the scene at the flower field is very fantastic and memorable. And this was only the beginning as we witnessed the beauty and power of films like Sonatine and Hana-Bi couple of years later. Takeshi Kitano is simply one of the greatest artists I know, and his cinema is as unique as cinema itself was in its birth, over 100 years ago. There is no comparison for his films, they are so personal and come straight from the heart of this man.

Boiling Point is not Kitano's greatest film, but still more than noteworthy. It is tragic, funny, exciting and challengingly symbolic at the same time, and thus as personal as Kitano's masterpieces. There are many great scenes and acts committed by the characters, and perhaps the only flaw in here is that the film is little too long and slow at the end part of the film. But once the end scene comes, it is again something we could expect from Kitano, and is pretty similar to Sonatine's finale.

Boiling Point deserves 8/10 rating as a very interesting piece of Kitano cinema, and this is a hint of what was to come from this man couple of years later!

3-4x Jugatsu/Boiling Point(1990) focuses on the theme of rebellion. The second consecutive film by Takeshi Kitano with an outsider who goes against the system. Masaki is a reactionary character who is content to be a nobody. He is an outsider who tends to do things just for the heck of it. Masaki and Uehara have a lot in common because both fight and lose to the system.

Uehara is a charismatic anti hero who is in the film for a small period of time. I only wished that Uehara had more screen time in Boiling Point(1990). Uehara is the meanest and sadistic person in a Takeshi Kitano directed picture. "Beat" Takeshi plays Uehara with flamboyant sadism and unpredictable viciousness. "Beat" Takeshi in Boiling Point(1990) follows in the footsteps of fellow tough guys, Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum, Charles Bronson, Klaus Kinski, Richard Widmark, Harvey Keitel, Telly Savalas, and Lawrence Tierney.

The act of sodomy by Uehara on his best friend is a shocking scene that attacks the nerves of the viewer. The images from this scene are off beat and unsettling. Uehara seems in this scene to prefer being in the company of of his best friend than his girlfriend. Its scenes like this that gives the film a brutal and dark comic edge. You will never see a scene like this in a Hollywood picture nor for that matter in an American Independant Film because very few are bold and daring filmmakers.

3-4x Jugatsu/Boiling Point(1990) is the first true Takeshi Kitano film that has his trademarks of off beat images, moments of dullness, and sudden violence more completely than in his debut, Violent Cop(1989). Also the first film that Takeshi Kitano wrote and directed on his own. Its here that Takeshi Kitano came into his own as an auteur and movie maker. Takeshi Kitano has a passion for the sport of baseball which is why the main character is a member of his local town's baseball team. Takeshi Kitano films a flash forward sequence that reminds me of Point Blank(1967), the early films of Alain Resair and Nicolas Roeg, plus The Limey(1999).

The acting portion of the film is not a strong point for the director here. Average in fact compared to the other departments of the motion picture. "Beat" Takeshi takes the cake with his amazing performance as the unpredictable, Uehara. Masahiko ono does alright as the average and lazy Masaki. The acting from the rest of the cast varies from person to person.

A favorite motif of Takeshi Kitano is the scene of people hanging out and playing at the beach. In his best films, there is a scene where the main characters go to the beach to relax and take it easy. These scenes show the good nature of the characters of Uehara and his best friend when they are not doing bad things. The beach motif in Boiling Point(1990) is for the main characters a place to find peace and tranquility with its calm waves, soft sands, and cool blue skies. These scenes make the characters very likeable.

A lot of the visual use and motifs from this film is used again in both Sonatine(1993), and Kids Return(1996). The scene where Uehara kills his boss with a machine gun is used in the climax of Sonatine(1993). The idea of the person who messes up in life plays an important role in Kids Return(1996). Suicide is a theme that plays a major role in both Boiling Point and Sonatine. If Violent Cop(1989) is the older brother of Fireworks(1997) than Boiling Point(1990) is the older brother of the masterpiece, Sonatine(1993).

The violence in the film provides an interesting counterpoint to the dullness of life. Violence at times in here happens without reason or warning. Violence in the universe of "Beat" Takeshi is not pleasant nor romanticized but vicious and ugly. Violence in Boiling Point begins and ends quickly without any regards for the aftermath. The violent behavior from the characters of the film is something that is in all of us human beings whether we like it or not.

The director is a genius at mixing images of humor with images of brutality. The visuals here are much more bizarre than in Violent Cop(1989). Takeshi Kitano is excellent at using images and natural sounds to tell a story. Boiling Point(1990) uses images with the same flair and style of the Silent film era. There are images of beauty and images of ugliness that makes the film fascinating to view.

3-4x Jugatsu/Boiling Point(1990) is the second chapter in the lifelong "Beat" Takeshi series. The editing is done at a rapid fire pace. The scene where Uehara bashes a bottle of beer over and over again is done with humor. Other humorous scenes are the sequence where Uehara asks his best friend to cut his finger for sleeping with his girlfriend even though he told him to do it and the scene where Masaki and his best friend have trouble firing a gun because the safety is off. Takeshi ends the film with his usual bleak finale.

Boiling Point (1990) is about a goofy guy who works at a convince store and plays sandlot baseball in his spare time. His head is always in the clouds. One day he insults a high ranking Yakuza member while at work. Then that's when all of his troubles begin. An interesting film by Kitano. This is his second directorial project (after taking over the directorial reigns for an ailing director in Violent Cop). Even though he's prominently featured in the film's trailer, Kitano is only in the film for several scenes (but his part is very memorable). Don't be fooled by the trailer. This is not a hardcore Yakuza film. It's about a young guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He should've "stayed in bed" that day. Poor kid. Recommended.

A.