Brother

Rating:
Summary: O "Brother", Are Thou "Art"?
Review: This is the city. Los Angeles, California. Swimming pools, movie stars, and Yakuza hitmen fighting for control of the streets with Chicano druglords and African-American gangstas. Just another typical day in sunny SoCal, according to Japanese cult director "Beat" Takeshi Kitano, in his first U.S.-released film. Kitano directs himself as the "marked" Yakuza who flees to the States, hooks up with his "adopted" brother (a low-level L.A. drug dealer) and his pals, then becomes Crimelord of Los Angeles in what appears to be a period of only a month or two. Action fans will probably be somewhat sated just by the sheer number of killings (I stopped counting after the first 2 dozen) yet turned off by the deliberate pacing and long, static takes. Arthouse fans will admire the deft cinematic touches and hip music score, but will probably find the frequent shootings and self-mutilations a bit overboard. Kitano the actor (an acquired taste) is in top form; Kitano the director seems less confident than usual, as if he was deliberately "dumbing down" for U.S. audiences (and can anyone who has viewed a Vin Diesel movie blame him?). Best enjoyed if you don't think about it too much; genre fans might detect similarities to the existential 60's Yakuza cult classic "Tokyo Drifter".

Rating:
Summary: Kitano - Master Japanese Director - Not his best movie
Review: Takeshi Kitano is a respected Japanese film director. His films are brutal dramas of life in the Japanese mafia, not action thrillers, but slowly paced and carefully constructed commentary on the meaning of violence, honor, and even love. He uses long stretches of silence, and shots in which very little movement takes place. These serve to give the film a pensive atmosphere, and contrast with bursts of violence coming out of nowhere, with no warning and no stylistic embellishment. Kitano stabs a man with the exact same level of intensity as he turns on a light switch. Gunfights in Kitano's movies are often nothing more than two combatants standing in a room firing bullet after bullet into each other until only the one with the most willpower is left standing. The standard Kitano "hero" is doomed from the start, as are basically all the other characters. The background of mafia violence is not the focus of the film, but is used to intensify its message. Kitano's philosophy is that in order to show the greatest of one thing, you must show it's opposite. In order to show the greatest love, and the greatest peace, one must show the strongest hatred and violence. The experience of watching one of his films is unique. They are quite powerful, unlike anything else being made today.

That said, 'Brother' is not as good as most Kitano films. It doesn't seem to have that much original to say. What is does do well is transplant perfectly Kitano's style from Japan to the United States. As a fan I enjoyed the film and am sure other Kitano fans will as well.

Newcomers to Kitano's films may expect this to be an action movie. They will be disappointed. This movie needs to be watched and judged it for what it is, a piece of art first and entertainment second.

Rating:
Summary: The BEST!!!
Review: I think this movie was really really good! i love it so much! i recommended this movie to all my friends and family and they all loved it!!! in the beginning you wonder what the hell is going on? but if you pay attention you will understand the whole movie! i thought it was the best yakuza movie i had seen so far...

Rating:
Summary: Brother Doesn't Let You Down !
Review: Take it for what it's worth !!! It's clean and explosive visual and aural action ! One cannot get confused or lost with the plot (not much of a twist to it but still suffices)...For those who liked La Femme Nikita (original 1990 French version) and Leon/The Professional will definitely find themselves hooked on this film from the lead actor to it's cinematic/somewhat classical score ! A friend of mine said the musical score did not fit this movie;he's wrong ! The soundtrack avoids making the stereotypical cliche of using cheap synthesized pulsating pop music...The score gives the film it's dramatic edge without getting campy.Actor/director Takeshi Kitano does a suave yet brutal portrayal as a yakuza leader from the "old school" who begins to clean house and claim territory from other rival mobs and gangsters.

On the dvd audio/video technical side, the video transfer is clean and the digital surround is mind-blowing ! Special off screen sound effects pan around the room convincingly and effectively.The bass produced by the explosions and weaponry used is simply an adrenalin induced experience...

Rating:
Summary: Obtuse, synthetic, and silly albeit very stylish nonsense
Review: I had to smile when in the second-last scene a character's dialogue (subtitle) include the word "inscrutable". That is the term I had been contemplating since about 10 minutes into this vapid two hour flic.

I'm really stunned by some other reviews saying things like "Japanese version of The Godfather" and "accurate portrayal of the Yakuza". The only Godfather this might compare to, on rating alone, would be Godfather III which was a bomb. And this is a valid portrayal of Yakuza gansters only if your average Yakuza is a suicidal halfwit with the emotions and intellect of a delinquent street urchin.

"Brother" has a stylish light-jazz soundtrack, very hip art direction and a cool aesthetic look which are enough to make you want to like the film.

Unfortunately, that's a tall order. The dialogue is juvenile (at least the english subtitling anyway), perhaps the Japanese language is better. The characters are plastic and one dimensional. The script is ludicrous, not the slightest grasp on reality of gangster society. Law enforcement is virtually non-existent in this movie since the gangster can slaughter each other in non-stop extravagant violence and almost never encounter the police. Killing is wanton and practically without any character motivation or response much of the time ... you're just left wondering. Compared to other gangster flics, there is almost no credibility in any part of this story.

This movie is optimized aesthetic silliness, with mindless two-second murders by the dozen, all committed to a jazzy sax soundtrack. At the midpoint, I was pondering whether to continue watching as the movie descended into the abyss. I only persisted to the end in order to see how low would actually sink.

This movie is as bad as "Knock Off", "The Negotiator", and "Showdown in Little Tokyo", probably worse.

If you really want to see an ultra-hip, stylized, aesthetics-over-plot film, try "The Odd One Dies" (Hong Kong, 1997) or "Fallen Angels" (1995), both with Takeshi Kaneshiro. Or an equally obtuse and bizarre film, but nonetheless very stylized action pulp noire, try Seijun Suzuki's classic "Branded To Kill" (1967). Or better yet, try "The Big Hit" (1998) with mark Wahlberg and Lou Diamond Phillips, which is another mindless but entertaining killing spree which doesn't take itself too seriously.

"Brother" is a disappointment. It is very nicely art-directed, and not much else. This is not the "Godfather" of the Yakuza genre. I am not flying solo in my critical view, the 69 reviews on RT have it at 51% thumbs down. One reviewer summed up my feelings well in his comment: "Rarely has such an artful aesthetic been used to craft such sadistically violent junk."...

Rating:
Summary: Very quick review
Review: I'll get around to writing a better review eventually. I liked the movie, and just wanted to point out that Denny revenge scene wasn't too light because he wasn't finished. Because of the ending events happened differently then he thought they were going to.

Rating:
Summary: Did I miss something?
Review: Seemed like some things in this movie wernt explained much. You can follow whats going on, what happened, etc but it seemed like it had many holes. The direction is only there half the time. It had some cool scenes in it but it could have been a much better movie

Rating:
Summary: You don't have to buy it, but rent it!
Review: It is kind of Takeshi movie. Violence, funny and try to be an art. I just don't feel anything after seen it. It happened all the time after his movie. It is hard to understand what he wants to do. He has such a reputation as a director, but I still can not get it. It's OK to watch. Not that bad. During the movie, I was not fallen asleep. I just want to say there are better Yakuza movies exist in Japan. Much better and much more. He doesn't have to make Yakuza movie. And also he hasn't reached the time to ripe yet about his talent as a director. One day, I hope he can make very best of his movie.

Rating:
Summary: Modern Musashi
Review: Brother is a compelling depiction of the Yakuza as modern samurai - and shows exactly how glamerous it is to eviscerate yourself or cut your own pinky off. Takeshi Kitano plays his part as a hardened killer with a certain grace, from his facial twitches to his morbid sense of humor. Don't expect shakespeare - at times the dialogue is clunky and plot devices awkward - but what this movie sets out to do, it does well.

Rating:
Summary: 5*s a brilliant movie, but buy R2 or R3 -- this one is cut!
Review: Sony has cut this version, removing some of the scenes spoken in japanese as well as digitally editing out some of the gore and changing the colour palette.
the UK R2 version is apparently the best, but for US buyers the fact that it is in PAL format is a major problem, unless you happen to have a television that can playback in PAL or your DVD player converts it for you. Simply dezoning the player is not sufficient. You won't get any picture.
the Japan and Hong Kong R3 versions I believe are both in NTSC. The Japan version might be anamorphic (like the UK version) but the Hong Kong version is non-anamorphic. These are both in DTS. The Hong Kong version might be the best bet for US buyers as the menus are in English. It is often on ebay.
The Australian R4 version is 'rental only' but can be found in second hand shops. Big problems: it is in pan&scan (4:3). It is uncut, however, and the colours are the original muted palette.
I went for the UK R2 version and I'd urge all non-US English language buyers to do the same.

P.S. Another issue with the R3 Hong Kong version -- the English subtitles appear during all the dialogue, whereas in the R2 UK version the subtitles appear only when characters are speaking in non-English languages. Also, some of the extras that appear on the UK version -- such as the documentary -- are not on the Hong Kong version. Also, a new R4 version has been released for sale; I have not viewed this version. I remain very happy with my R2 UK version.