Kite (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kite
Kite DVD cover [Edited Version]
Genre Drama , Thriller , Crime , Animation , Psychological , Film Noir
OVA
Directed by Yasuomi Umetsu
Studio Green Bunny
No. of episodes 2
Released 1998
Runtime

45 Min (Cut) 60 Min (Uncut)


Kite (カイト kaito?), also known as A Kite, is a highly controversial Japanese anime OVA written and directed by Yasuomi Umetsu. Kite can be likened to a much darker and more exploitative version of the film Nikita. The original Japanese version ran for two 30 minute episodes. However, subsequent releases, including the first two releases in the United States, have edited the OVA into one hour-long "movie".

Contents

[edit] Synopsis:

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Kite revolves around a schoolgirl named Sawa who is orphaned in her early teens. Her parents are the victims of a gory double murder. The detectives investigating the crime, Akai and Kanye, take her in as guardians. Akai begins a sexual relationship with her despite her young age, forcing her to become his sex slave for the duration of his guardianship. She becomes an assassin after the corrupt detectives made her kill an alleged rapist of young girls. After that she kills everyone that gets in the way of her bosses, including corrupt police officers and corporate fat cats. Eventually she meets a boy named "Obry" (in the English version) of similar age and employment and a bond quickly forms between the two assassins. Soon Sawa finds herself gaining the strength to escape from her guardians and set out on her own. But her bosses savagely beat her friend, almost to the point of death. Kanye then takes Obry out to be executed, but somehow he gets away and kills Kanye. Obry is then mysteriously killed in turn, by a child whose basketball he had earlier destroyed in response to an insult. Sawa finally concludes that her bosses killed both her parents and shoots Akai to death.

Sawa's assassinations are famous amongst the police in this film for her use of special bullets that explode inside the body after piercing the skin.

Kite is controversial in its depiction of extreme gory violence and explicit sex and nudity, including pornographic scenes involving a very young Sawa. Even some people that one of her bosses knew considered her to be "sexy" as a young girl. Consequently the OVA has been released three times in the United States, each with less censorship than the last (with the most recent release being reputedly uncensored). Kite was also banned in many Countries. Kite has sometimes been called ultra violent child pornography, with elements of the rarely-seen lolicon genre.

A live action adaptation of Kite has been reported to be in various stages of pre-production for a number of years now, with American film director Rob Cohen attached as either director or producer. The content of the live action film is expected to be toned down from the original OVA.

Two versions were initially released: a "General Release" version (rated 16-Up) and a "Director's Cut" version (rated 18-Up), which contains nearly 10 minutes of explicit footage. This Director's Cut version, however, is missing some scenes found in the original Japanese release. A third release, labeled "Special Edition", contains Kite in its original, uncut form. All contain some of the violent aspects of the movie, but the General Release only contains a scene where a mature Sawa is naked. The other two contain sex scenes.

[edit] Rating

[edit] Countries where Kite has been banned outright

  • China
  • United Kingdom (interestingly enough, it still seems to be listed on amazon.co.uk, although not for sale directly from them)
  • Sweden

[edit] References to Kite

The music video of No Doubt's song, "Ex-Girlfriend", is loosely based on Kite. The video was directed by Hype Williams.

[edit] See also

  • Mezzo Forte, Umetsu's unofficial follow up to Kite, which also concerns a young woman working as an assassin.
  • Cool Devices: Yellow Star, previously directed by Umetsu, features "prototype" character designs and similar subject matter.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../k/i/t/Kite_%28film%29.html"
In other languages