Hana-bi

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HANA-BI
Poster for HANA-BI
Directed by	Takeshi Kitano
Produced by	Masayuki Mori Yasushi Tsuge Takio Yoshida
Written by	Takeshi Kitano
Starring	Takeshi Kitano Kayoko Kishimoto Ren Osugi Susumu Terajima
Music by	Joe Hisaishi
Cinematography	Hideo Yamamoto
Editing by	Takeshi Kitano Yoshinori Oota
Distributed by	Nippon Herald Films
Release date(s)	September 3, 1997 (premiere at VFF) January 24, 1998 20 March 1998 April 3, 1998 24 July 1998
Running time	103 mins.
Language	Japanese
IMDb profile

HANA-BI (literally: fireworks) is a 1997 film starring, written, directed and edited by Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano. The film's score was composed by renowned Japanese composer, Joe Hisaishi. This would be their fourth collaboration. HANA-BI was released under the English title Fireworks in the United States, but with its original Japanese title in other English-speaking countries. The title is romanized with a hyphen as Kitano wanted to emphasize the duality of "flower" (hana) and "fire" (bi), the literal meanings of the characters that make up fireworks in Japanese.

The unexpected international success of HANA-BI, coupled with Sonatine's critical acclaim, established Kitano as a foremost Japanese filmmaker of his time.

Kitano's daughter and former singer Shoko Kitano also made a cameo, playing a nameless girl flying a kite in the film's closing scenes.

1 Plot synopsis
2 Techniques
3 Acclaim
4 Trivia
5 External link

[edit] Plot synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Kitano plays Nishi, a violent and unpredictable ex-police detective who quits the force after a terrible incident that results in his partner, Horibe (Ren Osugi), being confined to a wheelchair. After his retirement he spends much of his time looking after his wife Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto), who has leukemia. The film moves at a deliberate pace and devotes much time to exploring their relationship. Nishi has also borrowed money from the Yakuza to pay for his wife's needs, and is having difficulty repaying them. Meanwhile, Horibe takes up painting and creates works of art that are surrealistic and beautiful. In reality, these paintings were painted by Kitano himself, whilst in recovery from an infamous motorcycle accident in August 1994 that left half of his face paralysed.

[edit] Techniques

Most of the techniques used in the film are typical of Kitano - his deadpan demeanor, the stillness, the languid pace, the lengthy takes, the sudden ruthless violence, and the overall minimalism. In the very first scene, Nishi stands stock-still, looking at something, unwavering. Another character is also standing still and staring. This pattern is repeated throughout the film; it seems characters only move if they must.

Like most of Kitano's films, HANA-BI looks washed-out; it looks dreamy, and yet the violence is stark and abrupt. People are shot in the head and stabbed in the face. Blood is shed in liberal quantities. All this is contrasted by deep melancholy and tenderness, two qualities found similarly in Kitano's earlier effort, Sonatine. An example of when violence and sadness clash is demonstrated in one of Kitano's trademarks, the gruesome, decelerated scene. The dialogue is sparse, more so than the rest of Kitano's films. Nishi is not the only non-conversationalist; a good few of the characters are taciturn. Nishi's wife, for example, has only two short lines in the entire film, while Nishi speaks only when it is essential.

Nishi's scenes are interspersed with Horibe's, who has taken up painting in order to compensate for his paralysis. Horibe, like Kitano, is a pointillist.

[edit] Acclaim

The movie earned the Golden Lion award at the prestigious Venice Film Festival and numerous other accolades.
Critics praised the film, and it is possibly Kitano's most acclaimed film. American critic Roger Ebert rated it three stars out of four, citing its unusual approach toward serenity and brutality, calling it "a Charles Bronson Death Wish movie so drained of story, cliché, convention and plot that nothing is left, except pure form and impulse."[1] It was successful in its limited theatrical release, being praised especially in art circles, and won numerous awards and nominations.[2]

[edit] Trivia

The film title is sometimes listed as "Hana-bi", "hana-bi" or "Hanabi" on the covers of international DVD releases and other references to the film in the West. However, the official international title is actually HANA-BI, fully capitalized (¹ & ²), and is the used on all Japanese licensed products, including theatrical posters, video covers and OST covers (³).