Outrage/アウトレイジ (Autoreiji) (2010) - Kitano comeback with hardwired yakuza killer

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Writer/director/star/editor Takeshi Kitano looks tough and deadly on this poster for his Outrage

Rival yakuza families go at each other's throats, when a member of one family accidentally puts the screws on a member of the other.

 

Outrage is written by writer/director/star/editor Takeshi Kitano (Violent Cop/Sono otoko, kyôbô ni tsuki (1989)).

He himself plays the bear-like gangster Ôtomo here, who is not about to take orders for humiliating withdrawal from any slick bosses. Outrage is exceedingly violent and death-oriented; Kitano stages the violence with an infectious enthusiasm and often with visual force. Unfortunately the plot or characters never become very affecting, and those audiences with a foot placed in the Western gangster movie tradition will miss this aspect in Outrage.

 

Related posts:

 

Takeshi Kitano: Battle Royale (2000) or, Kill or Be Killed (star) 

Fireworks/Hana-bi/はなび (1997) - Kitano's stoic killer drama 

 

 

Watch a 5-minute clip from the film's Cannes premiere here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 6 mil. $

Box office: 8.4 mil. $

= Uncertain but likely a big flop (projected return of 1.4 times its cost)

[Outrage premiered 17 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 109 minutes. Kitano wrote the film around the death scenes he wanted to shoot and as an attempt to entertain widely again - after a string of uncommercial features. Shooting took place from August - October 2009 in Japan, including in Tokyo. The film opened #66 to a 6k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it widened to 7 theaters but didn't attain a higher rank, grossing 44k $ (0.5 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 3rd biggest market. It opened #4 in Japan, where it made 8.1 mil. $ (97.5 %). 2nd biggest was France with 141k $ (1.7 %). The film's budget is regrettably not know. Projected at 6 mil. $, the film would rank as a big flop. Kitano returned as a filmmaker with Beyond Outrage/Autoreiji: Biyondo (2012), the next film in what turned into his Outrage trilogy, which ended with Outrage Coda (2017). As an actor he first returned in Kikoku (2010, TV movie), Kenji Onijima Heihachirou (2010, TV-series) and theatrically in Dearest/Anata e (2012). Outrage is certified fresh at 80 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Outrage?

Fireworks/Hana-bi/はなび (1997) - Kitano's stoic killer drama

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Takeshi Kitano walks on a blue-colored shoreline with a psychedelic, flowery sun above in a dark suit on this poster for his Fireworks

Police detective Nishi is out on the fringes of sanity, when his family gets enveloped in tragedy, and he goes by sheer gut instinct in a period, where his own life is also up in the air...

 

Fireworks is written, directed and co-edited by its star Takeshi Kitano (Violent Cop/Sono otoko, kyôbô ni tsuki (1989)). The original Japanese title translates to 'fireworks'.

It is a very odd and singular film, a pure Kitano! He walks around without speaking and looks menacing and cool and torn, often wearing sunglasses, as he handles business (killing people mainly) in tough ways.

Fireworks is nevertheless a very quiet film, which also works as a showcase for a good deal of artworks made by Kitano. But is it essentially zen-cool as an experience, - or forgotten again very fast? I lean more towards the latter option, although Fireworks undeniably has a strong personality and fascinating force to it.

 

Related post:

 

Takeshi Kitano: Battle Royale (2000) or, Kill or Be Killed (star)

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 2.3 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 0.5 mil. $ (North America only)

= Uncertain - but likely a flop

[Fireworks premiered 3 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 103 minutes. Shooting took place in Japan, including in Tokyo. Details concerning the film's North-American release or the gross numbers for its many other international markets are regrettably not available online, so the film's theatrical rank cannot be asserted. However Kitano said in a 2003 interview that the film was "not a big success commercially". It was nominated for a César award and won a European Film award, among other honors. Kitano returned with Kikujiro (1999). As an actor, he returned in Tokyo Eyes (1998). Fireworks is fresh at 96 % with an 8.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Fireworks? 

Metropolis/メトロポリス (Metoroporisu) (2001) - Rintaro's ambitious robo-anime a matter of taste

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Colorful cyberpunk sci-fi animation is promised on this poster for Rintaro's Metropolis

Complications arising concerned with the evolution of robots lead a future mega-city to a complete breakdown.

Metropolis is written by Katsihuro Ôtomo (Stink Bomb/Saishu Heiki (1995, short)), based on the same-titled 1949 manga by Osama Tezuka (Astro Boy (1952-68)), and directed by Rintaro (Galaxy Express 999/Ginga tetsudô Three-Nine (1979)).
The inspiration from Fritz Lang's eponymous 1927 masterpiece (Metropolis (1927)) is apparent, though this anime evolves into a radically different film, especially due to its visual ambition, which divides audiences: Some will find the detailed, staccato-moving, fast-edited style with obvious mixing of traditional animation and CGI highly attractive, but others like myself find it deeply stressful and at times almost intolerable to watch. It is a matter of taste.
The style overwhelms the experience for me. Metropolis certainly is a noisy and special, doom-romanticizing film.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 1 bil. ¥, approximately 15 mil. $
Box office: Uncertain, perhaps around 15.25 mil. $
= Uncertain, but looks like a huge flop (looks to have returned 1.01 times its cost)
[Metropolis premiered 26 May (Japan) and runs 113 minutes. Production reportedly lasted 5 years. The film opened #40 to an 84k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, its peak weekend there, where it widened to 16 theaters and grossed 722k $. The world gross listed at Box Office Mojo is 4 mil. $. On Wikipedia the film is listed to have grossed 750 mil. ¥ in Japan, approximately 11.25 mil. $. Put together the gross comes to 15.25 mil. $. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches higher than this one. Metropolis is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Metropolis?

After the Storm/海よりもまだ深く (Umi yori mo Mada Fukaku) (2016) - Koreeda's striking portrayal of a disappointing man

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+ Best Japanese Movie of the Year

The faces of the four main characters of Hirokazu Koreeda's After the Storm adorn this pleasant poster

Ryota is an under-achiever, a gambler and a disappointment to his mother and ex-wife. During the period up to and during the 24th annual typhoon in Japan, he tries to make up for his flaws, especially because he wants to keep his son in his life.

After the Storm is the 12th theatrical fiction feature from Japanese master writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda (Nobody Knows/Dare mo Shiranai (2004)), who presents another great drama with humanistic insight, once again asserting himself as one of the truly unique and gifted filmmakers around today. The original title is taken from an old Japanese pop song that is heard in the film and which translates to 'even deeper than the sea'; strictly speaking a better title than After the Storm, which only refers to an actual storm that the action takes places around.
The film's unassuming cinematography leaves the space wide open for the actors, and they honor this with some terrific performances: Hiroshi Abe (A Yell from Heaven/Tengoku Kara no Êru (2011)) is right on as Ryota, who is a bum of a man, but one whom Abe's resourceful portrayal makes sympathetic even through his stealing, lying and wasting away of his money. Ryota has loafed through too much of his life with a goal for himself that he hasn't been able to make happen, while he has let the most important things, his nearest relations, fall apart. We come into his life at a time when this becomes crystal clear for himself as well, though he is unable to make up for his flaws and change the way his life has turned out.
All the actors here give honest, terrific performances, but two that especially also deserve singling out are those of Kirin Kiki (Lake of Tears/Umi no Koto (1966)) as Ryota's very direct, endearing mother and young Taiyô Yoshizawa (Kamisama no Wadachi (2017)) as his intelligent son, who may or may not be following in his father's footsteps, more or less inevitably, just as Ryota seems to have followed in his father's.
After the Storm doesn't match the greatness of Koreeda's recent masterpiece Like Father, Like Son/Soshite Chichi ni Naru (2013), and may appeal to a narrower audience, - certainly to Koreeda fans, - simply because it is very talky, deliberately contemplative in its form and may appear slow. It doesn't have much action; much of the plot moves through dialog, and the result is an entirely realistic drama with universally recognizable behavioral patterns and themes such as divorce, unfulfilled ambitions, gambling, parental responsibilities, neglect - all of it seen against Koreeda's stories' usual arena that is Family.
The film wouldn't achieve the level of impact it does if it wasn't for the outstanding dialog as well, which is both character-specific, wise and funny. In fact After the Storm is surprisingly funny; honest and unapologetic in its dealing with Ryota's vices, family strings and Japanese traits. It deals with the past, sometimes nostalgically but also as a burden that needs overcoming daily, and is both poetic and ultimately moving, another Koreeda treasure that shouldn't be missed.

Related posts:
 

Hirokazu Kore-eda: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Like Father, Like Son/そして父になる (Soshite Chichi ni Naru) (2013) - Koreeda's magnificent reflection on upbringing and family 
 

Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: In excess of 5.1 mil. $ and counting
= Uncertain
[After the Storm premiered 18 May (Cannes' Un Certain Regard section) and runs 117 minutes. Koreeda began thinking up the film in 2001, visiting his mother who lived alone in a housing complex following the death of her husband, Koreeda's father. Shooting lasted 1½ month from May 2014 on, during the year that Koreeda was also shooting his Our Little Sister/Umimachi Diary (2015). 89k paid admission to the film in its opening weekend in Japan, where it grossed 3.1 mil. $ (60.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 815k $ (16 %) and South Korea with 672k $ (13.2 %). In North America, it opened #47 to 27k $ in 6 theaters and peaked at #46 in 35 theaters and grossed 252k $ (4.9 %). The box office sheet is incomplete with several markets missing. The film was nominated for an Asian Film Award. After the Storm is certified fresh at 95 % with a 7.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of After the Storm?