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Brother

Brother (2001)

April. 06,2001
|
7.1
|
R
| Drama Thriller Crime

A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.

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Reviews

Dotsthavesp
2001/04/06

I wanted to but couldn't!

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Salubfoto
2001/04/07

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

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Staci Frederick
2001/04/08

Blistering performances.

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Scarlet
2001/04/09

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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chaos-rampant
2001/04/10

A lot of reviews describe this as Kitano's 'compromised' film, implying some meddling by the powers that be. Strangely not on the subject of violence, which this is full of. Theories aside, something seems to happen to Asian filmmakers coming to work in the US. It's like they are removed from the very soul of what they create back home, so even when the reproduction is dutiful (here, the Wong Kar Wai film) it seems to lack the intuitive connection with the specific cinematic world.This lacks a bit of everything. A plausible scenario, meaningful relationships, the grim gravitas that propels beyond the mundanities of another story about gangland rivalries. The fish-out-of-water element of a Japanese yakuza coming to Los Angeles in search of his brother is really milked for all its worth. How many times can Takeshi deadpan the astonished locals? Awkward moments abound in this, really awkward. Example; a hotel porter politely waits around Takeshi in the hope he will get another huge tip like the last time. We get it, he's polite but only because there's money in it. Leaving the room frustrated, Kitano has him actually blurt out "no tip this time!" as though we needed to be sure. There's more of this, mostly situations with the English-speaking actors directed like pieces of wood. The two worlds never quite gel together, in the way that even briefly they do in The Yakuza.The charm here comes in the form of the casual moments inbetween the strident plotting that would take up the bulk of the Hollywood equivalent of this film. People hanging around, bonding over a game of basketball or throwing ball in a beach. It's what Johnnie To has been doing over in Hong Kong. But To builds with an eye for elegy, for tenderness about to be swept away by carnage and the carnage ennobled as ballet of violence. Takeshi on the other hand counterpoints the intimacy with bursts of brisk, senseless, mayhem.

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m10001
2001/04/11

I like gangster movies. I like Japanese movies. You see that Beat Takeshi stars, directs and edits the movie and you may fear that he's an egomaniac and the film will be self-indulgent. It's not. It's got a unique point of view. It's got nobility. Takeshi's character is noble. One of his followers is noble. One would say that the family feeling in this movie is sweet, if it would not be weird to talk about the sweetness of a movie as blood-spattered as this one is. And this one is blood-spattered. My wife, whose taste in movies is usually much more sanguinary than mine, stopped watching it before it was over, so violent were the obeisances made to show faithfulness. This movie would be utterly unsuitable for children because of blood and guts and language. But it's funny. It's funny and honorable people gain moral victories and family members as well as people unrelated by blood show each other brotherly love. I fear for this culture-- our world culture-- that the only movie where I have seen honor and brotherly love lately is this film filled to overflowing with buckets of blood.

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prplmnky-1
2001/04/12

I rarely write reviews here and like a previous reviewer of this film I had never heard of this movie until it randomly came on HBO. I am a big fan of Japanese movies and I really like Kitano so I watched with interest and it payed off big time. While this is an extremely violent gangster movie I can't help but think of it as an art film. There is more said during the long silences than the bursts of dialog and the relatively brief amount of dialog becomes all the more important and impactful because of its scarcity. I really never thought I could see a thought provoking artistic delivery of a mob movie but here it is. Kitano delivers a true gem that I didn't think could exist. 11/10!

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johnny-08
2001/04/13

Another interesting movie from well known Japanese director Takeshi Kitano.Kitano established himself as an excellent director and in this one he acts good too.His face has no emotions in portraying this character.He had help from some American actors,especially Omar Epps.Probably you wonder what connection could possibly have Kitano and Epps but there are few scenes in witch they work perfectly.Movie has lots of blood,lots of dead people but it also shows us the way of living.The underground scene of Japan and America.Gangs,drugs,weapons,yakuza,Japanese and Americans.The only man who can connect this is Kitano and his excellent writing.This is definitely not the best Kitano movie but it's worth watching.Because of very good script.Because of very good acting.And finally because of Takeshi Kitano's talent.

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