Fireworks (1997) ( Hana-bi ) ( Havai Fisekler (Fire works) ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]

Takeshi Kitano is truly Japan's best kept secret. I found out about him from Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder DVD releases, a short lived home video company he started up with Miramax in which he unleashed Sonatine to the U.S. Kitano was known as a comedian and t.v personality to Japan in his early days (Shows like Takeshi's Castle or as you might know it, most extreme elimination Challenge)Until he began dipping his toes into film in which it was hard for Japanese audiences to take him seriously. That is until this film was released, his 7th. After suffering a motorcycle accident around 1994 which I've read was an "unconscious suicide attempt" he recovered, and continued film making. Dispite the large majority still not thinking of him as a film maker 6 movies into his career and countless acting rolls. He picked up painting as a hobby because of being wheelchair ridden and you see his life experiences played out in this film even his paintings are used. I've never seen someone be so cool so effertlessly as him and whenever someone mentions minimalist films he is first to mind. His filmography ranges from Yakuza style to samurai to heartfelt to his comedy roots. Living in America it is somewhat difficult to track down some of his films many of them being on out of print older DVDs, so this release from film movement was a welcomed edition to the collection (previously only available on New Yorker Video DVD circa 2000.) Film movement has two of his other films on Blu Ray his first and second, However true Kitano fans will come to notice His surrealist trilogy is nowhere to be found for region A players. In which he goes all out even poking fun at himself, hopefully in time his movies will be getting the treatment they deserve with releases like this in the future. So if you are a fan of cinema, appriciate directors, or tired of all the mainstream reboots/remakes/sequels filling our theaters throw up some of his trailers on YouTube and you'll be Itching to see what has been hiding in the shadows this whole time.

I don't really care for most of Kitano's movies but this one is special. Has interesting out of time sequences, personal family tragedy plot intertwined with criminal elements and police actions. A couple of violent parts but overall a beautiful quirky movie. Great music by Joe Hishashi (I bought the soundtrack album).

The best Takeshi Kitano movie ever. Amazing story and accompanying score and soundtrack. Amazing how Kitano combined beauty and tragedy with comedy and music (with Joe Hisaishi) into a co-existing environment with his usual actors playing remarkable roles.

This has got to be one of the most simultaneously beautiful and depressing films of recent memory. We've all heard a great deal about the economic doldrums that Japan has been facing for the last decade or so, but economic statistics mean little to us when the country and its people lie a half world away. It takes a film like this one, and a director like Takesi, to put a human face on these numbers, to paint a terrible portrait of despair as it grips an entire people and a nation. We view this dark world through the eyes of a Tokyo policeman who, pushed over the edge by his seemingly impossible economic circumstances and the senseless brutality of Yakuza gangsterism, concludes that in the end, the only thing that matters to him is to provide a few last days of joy and warmth for his dying, leucemic wife. Her fragile beauty and innocent purity stands in stark and terrible contrast the the ugliness that surrounds her, and there is an almost nihilistic, but nonetheless incontrovertible logic to his decision. It is a dark, violent, seemingly hopeless, but ultimately beautiful film.

Wonderfully restored. Joe Hisaishi's music is wonderful, and Kitano is as stoic as ever.

Kitano. Is great in this roll as vicious cop who loves his wife and sacrifices everything for her short time

One of director's two great films. See it.

First Japanese thrill I ever watched

Along with Violent Cop, I think this is one of my very favourite Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano films. His films are like nothing I have seen before. You never really know what to expect with his films. Is it going to be non stop violence? Usually not. Is it going to be funny? Pretty much yes. Will it be beautifully shot? You bet. Will it be a moving experience? Oh yes. The mixture of emotions you will experience in his films is quite simply breath taking. Please watch this film and his other works and I guarantee they will stay with you forever. Takeshi Kitano, in my eyes is an absolute genius.

Excellent example of kitano's work. Super cool ex-cop, Nishi with a sick wife and complicated life. Hard to explain the plot without either giving too much away, or making it sound boring. Trust me, it isn't. Somehow this guy is mesmerising as the almost monosyllabic (initially at least) main lead. All the themes are there, love, loyalty, friendship and playfulness, along with the trademark stillness and unpredictable episodes of violence, which never seem over done, somehow. If you haven't seen his work yet, I'd recommend starting with this one, or sonatine. Unique guy.

If you like Takeshi Kitano, you will like this film. It is not the simplest of things and at times it can be a bit odd but then again most of his films have some strange parts to them and this is no exception. I liked it anyway.

A monumental picture that is a must see for any self proclaimed film buffs. This Blu Ray copy exhibits brilliant picture and colour quality while also providing extremely clear sound that is sadly only two channels but the audio quality itself makes up for the lack of true surround sound.

Very entertaining film that was imbued with it's own style thanks I suspect to actor/director Takeshi Kitano. It has a certain "trashiness" to it a bit like some Brian De Palma films that can superficially mask the real quality that lies behind it. If you watch it through to the end though you will be rewarded with an original cinematic experience.

Great

Good

one of my favorite films from the '90s finally on bd and with a beautiful transfer, unlike the awful, blurry, dark, and pal/converted u.s. dvd.>^..^<

Great film, especially if you like Takeshi Kitano, which I do.

We found this to be a great work of depth, observation and emotion. Direction, storyline, music all conspire to make a quite stunning piece of work

Absolutely fabulous - more than proves the maxim 'less is more'

Great movie with the ever charismatic Kitano.

Winner of the golden lion at the Venice film festival in '97, Hana-Bi may well be the finest film i've seen. Written, directed and starring Kitano 'Beat' Takeshi and accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack it tells the story of a recently retired policeman who's wife is dying causing him to become ridden with guilt, who then decides to borrow money from the yakuza and rob a bank so he can do what he can for his wife in her last days, an ex-partner who is now wheelchair bound and the wife of another fellow officer who was killed. With the abstract use of some of Takeshi's own real life paintings that he did after a very unpleasant motorcycle accident, moments of sudden violence, unexpected comedy, and persued by the yakuza and police, he takes his wife on a journey that is as strange and depressing as it is wonderful. There is no western equivalent to Japans Beat Takeshi. His unique filming and acting style demands to be seen!!!

Zugegeben Hana-Bi ist mein Lieblingsfilm. In den meisten Trailern wird er als reine Gewaltorgie dargestellt, was er aber definitiv nicht ist. Diese Darstellungen geben dem Film seinen Rhythmus und akzentuieren die stillen liebevollen Momente. So sind sie ein wichtiger Bestandteil der wunderbaren Poesie des Films. In dem mehr durch Auslassungen erzählt wird als andere Regisseure durch explizite Dialoge und Darstellungen ausdrücken können. In diesem Sinne ist es zu empfehlen die ab 18 Fassung zu schauen diese hat vier Minuten mehr Spielzeit als die Arthaus Version, natürlich im Originalton mit Untertiteln. Die Leistung der Darsteller gehört ebenfalls zum besten was das Medium Film zu bieten hat. Hier kommt ihnen möglicherweise ihre Kultur zugute, in der man auf große Gesten und Pathos verzichtet und sich lieber indirekt ausdrückt. Wie einer meiner Vorrezensenten schon schrieb, handelt es sich eigentlich um einen Liebesfilm. In dem sich ein Mann so verhält wie sich ein Mann verhalten sollte.Zum Abschluss noch zwei Hinweise.1.) Den Abspann ganz ansehen.2.) Zum Verständnis der vorletzten Szene ist es wichtig zu wissen, dass der Drache ist im japanischen Kulturraum ein Glückssymbol ist

La película ya la tenía en DVD y VCD, ergo, ya a había visto.Ahora, esta versión en BD está muy bien.Se nota la calidad BD (FHD), lo que hace que la peli, si cabe, sea aún mejor...