Takeshi Kitano's "Hana-bi" aka. "Fireworks" of 1997 is sad, funny, violent and melancholic and, alongside his 1989 debut "Violent Cop", my personal choice for his best work. Hardly ever have I seen a movie which is this memorable and unique in both its tragic and its funny moments, as it is the case with this great film.
I am a big fan of director Takeshi Kitano, who also stars in the leading part (as 'Beat' Takeshi) in this, and "Hana-bi" is my personal favorite of his movies.
Yoshitaka Nishi (Kitano) is a mostly calm, but occasionally irascible and ultra-violent cop, whose wife Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto) is terminally ill of leukemia. After his partner Horibe (Ren Osugi) is wounded, and another police officer is killed, Nishi decides to quit his job at the police and spend more time with his dying wife. In order to help Horibe, who is now in a wheelchair, and the dead police officer's widow, and in order to make the remaining time as comfortable as possible for his wife, Nishi, who also owes money to the Yakuza, needs money and he is determined to acquire it.
Not only is Kitano a gantastic a writer and director, his acting performance in "Hana-Bi" is also superb. Nobody else could have played the role of Nishi with such brilliance as 'Bito' Takeshi Kitano, who rarely says a word in the first half of the film and is (nevertheless or therefore) absolutely impressive in his role of the cop with the constant poker face, which typical for Kitano. By the way, the impressionist and very original pictures which are shown occasionally throughout the movie were also painted by Kitano himself. The rest of the performances are also very good, Ren Osugi delivers a particularly memorable performance as Horibe, Nishi's partner who is struck by fate and has to live in a wheel chair, and Kayoko Kishimoto is great in the lovable role of Nishi's dying wife.
Fantastic cneimatography and Kitano's typical way of patiently drawing out some scenes while showing abrupt outbursts of violence with stamina that makes them hurt as well as his unique talent for the combination of tragic and comical elements make this one of his greatest achievements. Highly recommended!
Plot summary
Nishi, a police detective, has had to deal with a series of emotionally devastating events over the recent past. His only child, then preschool age, died two years ago. His wife, currently in the hospital, has been diagnosed with a terminal case of leukemia. And he develops a case of guilt when his colleague Horibe, during a stakeout which Nishi himself was supposed to be on but who, on Horibe's suggestion, was visiting his wife in the hospital instead at the time, gets shot point blank. That guilt is only exacerbated when Horibe, who as a result becomes paraplegic, is abandoned by his wife and child, with Horibe himself at a loss with what to do with his life as being a police was his sole identity. As a means to cope, Nishi becomes increasingly reckless, which affects the way he does his police work. That recklessness extends to his personal life when his wife's doctor recommends that she go home, Nishi, in the process, borrowing money from the yakuza to make ends meet. That recklessness also leads to him taking matters into his own hands as he tries to make his and his wife's life together, for however long it will last, a series of small yet special moments.
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Great Kitano!
Typical Beat
FIREWORKS is perhaps the archetypal Beat Takeshi movie, taking all of his sensibilities as a director and throwing them into an arthouse-style movie with commercial appeal. It's a slow, deliberately paced story of a cop on the edge - Takeshi's usual role - and the ways in which his life is complicated by the Yakuza as well as a terminally ill wife. Beautifully shot throughout with handsome coastal and beach scenes, this is studded with the usual stark violence and bloodshed, understated performances, and a general quality feel.
Compartmentalization
Ren Osugi is shot while saving the life of his partner, Beat Kitano. He loses the use of his legs. Pensioned off from the police force, confined to a wheelchair, Osugi tries to give himself some purpose. Meanwhile, Kitano quits to take his dying wife, Kayoko Kishimoto, on a sightseeing tour.
There's a Jean-Pierre Melville feel to this movie, with Kitano speaking very little, just occasionally taking off his tinted glasses when out of the sunlight. I suppose there are some very deep subtextual interpretations to this work, but to me it's about a man who is very violent in his work, but very tender towards his wife. It's a very masculine movie, with a lot of violence -- where Miss Kishimoto cannot see it. Very loving and in its own weird way, very romantic.