10 Essential Movies You Need To Tick Off Your Bucket List
3. Hana-Bi
Many folk know Takeshi Kitano only as the owner of the titular game show castle. Beyond that they may have seen him in Battle Royale. There’s far more to Kitano than that, though. For the past thirty years he has been one of Japan’s greatest directors, making varied, visceral, and often moving films all of which are highly worthwhile.
1997’s Hana-bi (“Fireworks”) might be his most accessible for newcomers. Kitano stars as ex-cop on the edge Nishi, whose world is falling apart. His partner was recently paralysed, his wife is terminally ill, and he is deep in debt to the yakuza.
Kitano’s style is matter of fact but visually arresting. Hana-bi plays with time in a manner that can be disconcerting and adds to the edginess of the film as we flit between past and present, leading up to the climactic incident that turned Nishi’s world upside down.
Like many of Kitano’s movies it’s a cop film on the surface, but with a hell of a lot to say about depression and what makes life worthwhile. There are few films like Hana-bi, that combines so many influences as to be unclassifiable. A great introduction to an incredible director.