A familiar deadpan tale of the Yakuza, and a turf war being fought in Okinawa. Then the gang hide out at the beach, and things start taking a playful turn into the bizarre. The scene where - well, it's difficult to explain. But it starts out with a contest using cut out figures, and how that translates into live action is laugh out loud funny. It's like children trying to entertain themselves in all sorts of silly ways.
Good music from Joe Hisaishi, cinematography Katsumi Yanagijima.
With 'Beat' Takeshi, Aya Kokumai as the girl, Tetsu Watanabe, Masanobu Katsumura, Susumu Terjima.
The ending shoot out is spectacular but what happens then is totally unexpected. It's very violent, stylish and funny. And frankly, at times, quite perplexing.
Well, that makes the fifth Takeshi film I've seen. Also that look good are: A Scene At the Sea (1991), Kids Return (1996), Brothers (2000), then into an 'arthouse' phase with Dolls (2002), Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (2003), Akiresu to Kame (2008, a film about an artist), and a return to Yakuza territory with the Outrage trilogy (2010-17). This year's Broken Rage is another action thriller, but in the second half, it turns into a parody of the first half!
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