Brother (2000)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written and Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Starring Beat Takeshi, Omar Epps, and Claude Maki

Features

• Trailers
  

Rating: R

Anamorphic: Yep.

My advice: Rent it.

The yakuza have decided Yamamoto (Takeshi) is a most capable soldier in their ruthless army of thugs. A bit too capable, actually, so they order his most trusted lieutenant to execute him. Honor to his blood brother prevails, however, and the lieutenant fakes Yamamoto’s death, on the condition that Yamamoto go join his younger brother in America, forever removed from his homeland and yakuza connections.

Yamamoto flees the country with a bag full of money, hoping to set himself up comfortably in the United States. In very short order, he’s killed a few people, and decides to make a grab for power and territory, using only ruthless violence and the misfit two-bit drug dealers that his younger brother has fallen in with in his time in America. Known to all of them only as aniki (“big brother”), Yamamoto leads his tiny band of thugs to greatness on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

As with all great crime stories, however, the downfall is imminent. Despite the great success in dealing with the low-level street thugs running their particular corner of Los Angeles, Yamamoto and company eventually run afoul of the inevitable “bigger fish” in the L.A. crime pond. It falls to aniki and his oldest, most trusted agents to attempt to make it out with their hides and fortunes intact.

Brother is crime noir turned up to 11. Takeshi “Beat” Kitano, acting as writer, director, and title character, just exudes menace and barely constrained violence. He also projects sub-zero cool. The whole film is largely constructed to allow him to chew up scenery using as few words as possible, and as much ammunition. He’s backed up ably by Omar Epps, playing one of his early recruits and his most faithful ally, despite the rocky start to their relationship (when Yamamoto lays his face open with a broken bottle).

The movie blends the best of American crime drama with all the best of Hong Kong bullet-fests, and Kitano’s direction is spot on. Excellent use of negative space and silence help establish the creepy calm that precedes and surrounds the characters’ life of violence. The result is an eerily beautiful movie, despite the blood and fire that pervades it. Some touches are less subtle than others, most notably the overhead shot of Yamamoto leaving a room full of corpses that form the kanji for “death” on the floor. But overall, the film was obviously crafted by someone who paid attention to details, and it pays off nicely.

The DVD treatment is a bit thin, however. A good transfer and audio mix is about all you’re getting here. Some features would have been nice, and made this a keeper instead of just a rental. An interview with Kitano himself would have been excellent, or perhaps with Omar Epps to find out what it was like working with the legendary Kitano. When you’ve got a picture that’s obviously a labor of love revolving around one figure, it would be nice to hear his thoughts on it (though a commentary track might have been asking a bit much of Kitano’s English skills).

Regardless, the film is a worthy rental for fans of the genre or Kitano’s previous work. While not quite up to the par of John Woo’s best work, it is at the very least a close second. A little attention lavished on the DVD release would likely have made it a solid keeper, but as it stands I can’t imagine any but the most die-hard wanting to hang on to it.