Well, Brother was definitely not a great film. I'm not a Beat Takeshi expert, but Kikujiro really brought out his abilities as a director. He's quite accomplished, which is great considering how much fun he seems to have while directing... It's hilarious to hear him in an interview say "my movies are kind of like my turds... I don't like to go back and analyze them"

EDIT: Man, I said nothing at all, did I?

: ) Nice. Even better to picture Takeshi standing indifferently over the toilet and gazing into its depths with those twitching, comatose eyes, pondering how much his turds and films share with one another before flushing.

I'll be seeing Hana-bi sometime before next week, I'd say. (Threads like this are going to be the financial death of me.)

K

I saw Sonatine today. Now, both Brother and Hana-bi were a little tricky to follow at times, but things fell into place as you watched, overall; however, I found Sonatine particularly puzzling, plot-wise. I'm not sure if this is due to the film or the subtitling or what. But can somebody explain to me why he kills himself at the end? I assumed that he figures he's good as dead anyway after mauling the gang leaders and he doesn't want to bring the girl down with him, but then again, he does himself in her car. Seems kind of inconsiderate.

What else? Hmm -- OK, an early scene while they're still in the city: there's this part where there's two guys back at the hideout or whatever and one goes to light a cigarette and the whole floor explodes. Then the others return and seem to take it as an enemy attack, but because the lighting of a cigarette seemed to be the catalyst, I was scratching my head. Was this actually an enemy attack or the result of some kind of gas leak because the building was in such bad shape? Seems odd but I could see that being in line with Kitano's odd sense of humor.

These might seem like ... uber-stupid questions, but ... I dunno ... I just had some difficulty following this one, especially during the first half.

But, I must admit that overall I still found the whole thing very interesting. That elevator shoot-out was classic stuff and I just kinda dig on the unique atmosphere, leisurely pace, and bizarre tension of Kitano's movies.

K