Star Review
Although renowned throughout his homeland Japan for a variety of reasons (he’s a comedian, presenter, poet, author, painter and videogame designer), Takeshi Kitano is best known to the majority of the world as a filmmaker, with a unique and disturbing cinematic vision. This collection brings together his first six films – from his debut Violent Cop (where he took over direction after Kinji Fukasaku took ill, rewriting much of the script and making the film his own) through Boiling Point and Sonatine, films that finessed the template of what viewers would come to expect from Kitano – extreme violence, slapstick comedy, and long static scenes in which little apparently happens. Then there’s more unexpected fare in the form of Getting Any? (a crazy satire of Japanese culture) and A Scene by the Sea. The boxset is rounded out by Kid’s Return, Kitano’s first film after a bad motorcycle accident he later admitted was a suicide attempt, and – until Zatoichi – his most successful film in Japan.
Peter Wild on 7th October 2008
View all 54 of Peter Wild’s reviews
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Film Description
A collection of the first six films by cult director Takeshi Kitano. Features Violent Cop (1989), Boiling Point (1990), A Scene at the Sea (1991), Sonatine (1993), Getting Any? (1995) and Kids Return (1996).
Violent Cop is a delirious, violent masterpiece that follows a rebellious police detective who finds his life threatened by a local Yakuza gang, and is forced totake the law into his own hands to deliver his own brand of justice.
Boiling Point is a gangster comedy which sees a local baseball player run afoul of a group of Yakuza and in an effort to stand up to the mob runs into a hardened criminal with a helping hand and scores to settle.
A Scene at the Sea centres on a deaf refuse collector who finds a discarded surfboard and, with the help of his also deaf girlfriend, decides to learn to surf. This lighthearted drama proves what a complex and multi-layered storyteller Kitano truly is.
Sonatine is widely regarded as one of Kitano’s finest works, and follows a Yakuza officer thrown into the midst of a complex and murderous struggle, forcing on him staking his future life and happiness on a final, bloody standoff.
Getting Any? is a gleefully stupid tale about one man’s attempt to get laid. It mercilessly satirises Japanese culture, while simultaneously displaying why Kitano isone of Japan’s best loved comedic minds.
Kids Return is a wistful, bleak tale about a pair of high school bullies confronted by a street punk, and examines their slide into adulthood and the way their friendship is tainted by the onset of maturity.
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Takeshi Kitano Collection
