Adrenalina Máxima

Beat Takeshi movies are without doubt an acquired taste. Newcomers to them, presumably expecting some kind of flashy, gun happy, John Woo-style "action" movie, are often shocked because they are the complete opposite to most Hong Kong cops'n'robbers movies. Slow, atmospheric and character driven, they really make you WORK. Things are not handed to you on a plate all neatly packaged, and generally it's what is NOT said and shown which counts. And yes, they are violent, but only intermittently. Takeshi lulls you into a false sense of security with his stunning visuals and thoughtful character studies and then WHAM, when you least expect it, we get violence, REAL violence. With consequences. The best Takeshi movie I have seen is 'Hana-bi' but 'Sonatine' comes a very close second. Takeshi stars as the kind of character he often plays, an ageing, dissatisfied man. Sometimes he's a cop, this time he's a yakuza. But he basically plays variations on the same "type". And let's face it, he does it very, very well. Takeshi also wrote, directed and edited this wonderful movie. A very impressive feat! If you aren't familiar with his style, this might be a good place to start. Leave your expectations at the door, and I'm sure you will be impressed. The supporting cast, many of whom are Takeshi regulars, are uniformly excellent (and may I say that Aya Kokumai is a real hottie?), but it's Takeshi himself who really impresses as an actor as well as a film maker. Highly recommended, as is 'Hana-bi'. Two of the very best movies released in the last ten years. If Hollywood was this good!

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.

This is exactly what I'd do if my gang's territory was being threatened by conspiracy and rivalry in the criminal underworld - hide out on a nice beach playing fantastic-looking firework and sumo games with me mates and some random passing woman, listening to crazy old men singing in incredible voices, watching out for assassins in fishing gear and generally building myself up for a massive showdown. Beat Takeshi is a genius with this kind of stuff, he makes his gangster a real man in full 3D, hardened by a hard life but still full of uncertainty and needs, and who in the world could have outdone his deadpan but humourous face, especially in those bleak final scenes. Shame about his appalling TV "comedy" though.

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.

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.