Takeshi Kitano makes stillness funny, frightening and unexpectedly tender. His crime films reward patience, though Fireworks also shows the risk: a leading man’s silence can be fascinating while his wife remains underwritten.
Fi1m perspective
In Fireworks (1997), Takeshi Kitano barely changes his expression, yet we keep looking for signs of affection, menace or fatigue. He writes, directs and plays Yoshitaka Nishi, a retired police officer facing debts to the yakuza and his wife’s terminal illness. Small shifts in that face matter because he gives us so little else to go on. We were moved by Nishi’s quiet attention to his dying wife, because Kitano lets us see his helplessness without giving him a speech to explain it.
Kitano came to films from the comedy duo Two Beats, and the deadpan humour remains essential to his crime stories. His directing began with Violent Cop (1989), and Sonatine (1993) developed the combination of stillness and abrupt violence. Gentler work ran alongside those crime stories, from A Scene at the Sea (1991) to Kikujiro (1999). Outrage (2010) returned him to yakuza power struggles and began a trilogy.
His habit of editing his own films helps explain their abruptness: events can be omitted so that we encounter the aftermath first. In Fireworks, Hideo Yamamoto’s cinematography leaves space around the figures and gives us time to study them. Norihiro Isoda’s restrained production design keeps the surroundings from competing for attention. Kitano’s own paintings reward a longer look. We have time to examine a picture or a person without feeling hurried towards the next confrontation.
That approach has a cost in Fireworks. Kayoko Kishimoto makes Nishi’s wife someone we care about, but the screenplay gives her too little room to want anything for herself. Her illness too often explains his behaviour while her own thoughts remain out of reach. This is a limitation of Kitano’s writing, and it matters in a film that asks us to invest so much in the marriage. Start with Fireworks, provided sudden violence will not spoil the evening.
Biography
Takeshi Kitano (born 18 January 1947) is a Japanese comedian, actor and filmmaker, known in Japan as Beat Takeshi. He began his career in the 1970s as one half of the comedy duo Two Beat before pursuing solo work in television and film.
Kitano made his directorial debut with Violent Cop (1989). He gained international recognition for Sonatine (1993) and Fireworks (1997; also known as Hana-bi), the latter winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. He frequently writes, directs, edits and stars in his films, which include Kikujiro (1999), Zatoichi (2003) and the Outrage trilogy (2010–2017).
