An Ultra Fan's Guide to Kitano Takeshi Kitano plays Murakawa, a Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life. Along with some henchmen, he is sent by his boss to Okinawa supposedly to mediate a dispute between their allies, the Nakamatsu clan, and the Anan clan. Murakawa openly suspects that the assignment is an attempt to have him removed and even beats up one of his colleagues, Takahashi, who he distrusts, but ends up going with his men. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and while wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, the group's temporary headquarters are bombed. Edit Translation
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Cast & Credits
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![Beat Takeshi in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)]( "Beat Takeshi in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)")
Beat Takeshi Main Role -
![Osugi Ren in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)]( "Osugi Ren in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)")
Osugi RenKatagiriSupport Role -
![Terajima Susumu in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)]( "Terajima Susumu in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)")
Terajima SusumuKenSupport Role -
![Watanabe Tetsu in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)]( "Watanabe Tetsu in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)")
Watanabe TetsuUechiSupport Role -
![Katsumura Masanobu in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)]( "Katsumura Masanobu in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)")
Katsumura MasanobuRyojiSupport Role -
![Yajima Kenichi in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)]( "Yajima Kenichi in Sonatine Japanese Movie (1993)")
Yajima KenichiTakahashiSupport Role
Reviews
Beat Takeshi has done many yakuza films but this one was the best and so original, although, he always plays a dark character and is very serious but always laughs a little in every film he is in, that's what make his films good.
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Joe Hisaishi's music destroys me
From its hypnotic style to its pessimistic plot, Sonatine is a mesmerizing manifestation of Takeshi Kitano's continued revitalisation of the yakuza movie. It is a largely peaceful, contemplative work, punctuated by moments of extreme violence all delivered with purpose balancing the fine line between gorgeously dreamy and grim reality. Kitano's haunting elegy to the gangster way of life, he spends the film exposing the gangster ideal as the myth, of little boys who forget to grow up, doing so with incredible flourishes of style, playfulness and jarring outbursts of his trademark humour. Having only written four scenes, the vast majority of the film was largely spontaneous, often Kitano finding his feet in the moment at hand. Sonatine sees the bleak suicidal tendencies of Kitano's mind coming right to the forefront, especially since he suffered partial facial paralysis after a motorscooter accident not long after this film's release. One he has often mentioned was an unconscious suicide attempt, this alone lends a massive amount of weight to the Russian Roulette sequences, giving Sonatine so much more emotional levity to its already unconventional narrative. With the addition of another stunning musical score by Joe Hisaishi, Sonatine rewards those with patience, offering up plenty of existential dread among its exceptional beauty.Was this review helpful to you?
