Hana Bi (UK)

8 / 10
2 votes cast
Rate this item
Inline Image

A film by Takeshi Kitano
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 103 mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date:

Synopsis:
Critically acclaimed `Hana-bi` (winning at The Venice Film Festival, 1987) is a tale of guilt, death and loyalty in Japan`s crime world.

Directed and starring the acclaimed Takeshi Kitamo, `Hana-bi` shows his true talent in film-making and performing and received stunning reviews.

Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Documentary
Trailer

Video Tracks:
Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1

Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 Japanese

Subtitle Tracks:
English

Directed By:
Takeshi Kitano

Written By:

Starring:
Yasuei Yakushiji
Hakuryu
Tetsu Watanabe
Susumu Terajima
Ren Osugi
Kayoko Kishimoto
Takeshi Kitano

Soundtrack By:
Jô Hisaishi

Director of Photography:
Hideo Yamamoto

Editor:
Yoshinori Oota
Takeshi Kitano

Costume Designer:
Masami Saito

Producer:
Takio Yoshida
Yoshito Yamazaki
Shigeru Watanabe
Yasushi Tsuge
Hideto Osawa
Masayuki Mori
Kouichi Miyagawa
Hiroshi Ishikawa
Kazuhiro Furukawa

Distributor:
Momentum Pictures

Your Opinions and Comments

7 / 10
After discovering Brother, I purchased Hana Bi.

Hana Bi for me, is Kitano`s best film that I have currently seen (I haven`t yet seen Violent Cop, Boiling Point or Sonatine). Kitano once again pulls a great performance as the silent, thoughtful ex-policeman who is prone to snap into violent acts if provoked. Not only is the film violent but, it has more sensitivity to the honour between the policemen, the Kitano character`s guilt and his unexpressed love for his wife.

The picture is a little soft, but it manages to maintain the great look to the film which is punctuated with colourful paintings done by the director. Although not the best, the quality of the picture was still much better than what I was expecting. The audio once again, does the job of handling the long drawn out silences and the musical score.

A fantastic film, given a OK treatment, but as far as I am concerned it still ain`t bad.
posted by wazza on 23/1/2002 17:15