Sonatine Details

Dreamlike meditation on violence, betrayal & life

"Beat" Takeshi Kitano plays a mobster coming to the end of his career; a ruthless and sadistic killer, but with sufficient insight to realise that he lacks the hunger to keep him at the top of his game.

As he contemplates retirement, his boss sends him on one more mission - to the comparative backwater of Okinawa to resolve a feud involving rival gangs.

Soon after arriving, accompanied by a motley group of battle hardened Yakuza and untried youngsters, it becomes clear that things are far more complex - and more dangerous - than he had been led to believe.

Forced by circumstance to hide out in a remote beachside house, boredom soon forces hardened gangsters to find new ways to pass the time. For what seems like weeks, they pass the time with games, pranks and conversation. Kitano even manages to find some sort of happiness with a local woman. But eventually they are forced to re-engage with the outside world, with tragic results.

A strange, dreamlike film (think Pulp Fiction shot by Badlands era Terrence Malick); brutal and uncompromising, but with little in the way of graphic violence (although what there is, is shocking in the extreme). The camera work and dialogue highlight the extent to which we are looking on a world we cannot (indeed can never) understand.

Not a film for action movie diehards, but recommended for anyone wanting something dark, stark and thought provoking. A masterpiece.

This is a bautiful movie. Kitano is one of the best Japanese directors. Ideal for those who are fed up with the usual boring hollywood stuff...