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BROTHER
AKA:
Aniki, Mon Frère
Year:
2000 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
Yamamoto
("Beat" Takeshi Kitano) is a no-nonsense member of
the Japanese Yakuza who only knows the life of a gangster.
When unforeseen circumstances place him on the top of some
important hit lists he is forced to seek refuge and must leave
his home land. The only family he has is his little
brother who resides in the good old United States of America
so Yamamoto sets out to find him. Arriving in a strange
land he comes up against a few unfriendly natives and soon
learns that his sibling is working for some of them as a drug
pusher. Things begin to get out of hand one night when a
so-called employer starts beating on Yamamoto's little brother
and he has to step in to lend a fist or two. This seems
like the perfect opportunity for the gang to branch out and
with Yamamoto's help they go from strength to strength.
However, they didn't count on the Mafia's involvement and
before long a full scale war has broken out.
It
would have been easy for 'Brother' to go the way of previous
"fish out of water" style international films like 'The
Master' or 'The Limey' with it's main star compromising
his established image and popular attributes in order to make
yet another film in which a foreigner arrives in America and
turns out to be super tough. Thankfully though, it
doesn't and Kitano takes up the reigns as actor, writer and
director to craft a film that contains the same degree of
characterisation and emotion mixed with violence that we have
seen in his other films.
Kitano's
exploration into the American underworld is a slow but
enthralling one. It doesn't open with major punch ups or
a huge gun battle and only intermittently contains either of
these, instead we see Yamamoto's introduction into a strange
culture and a man who, no matter where he is, only knows the
language of violence. Silence seems to be the most
popular form of expressionism for Kitano which is aided by his
main character's poor grasp of the English language so he
rarely explodes into explanation for his actions, leaving his
looks to do the talking. This is certainly a brave
approach as an actor and director but it is a successful one.
He also has the idea to use body language as a form of
communication, even going so far as to completely remove the
actor's head and speech from certain shots. Mix in a few
comedic moments to lighten the mood in between the hard edged
violence and we certainly have a refreshing approach to this
style of film.
The
action for 'Brother' is short, sweet and to the point.
Kitano never allows for stylish or over-exaggerated gunplay,
opting instead for a far more realistic approach; guys walk
in, guys get killed and blood is sprayed everywhere.
It's not pretty but it's very effective and clearly makes the
viewer more alert to every shot that is fired. Action
sequences are also rarely prolonged and Kitano often chooses
not to show the larger battles at all, particularly for a
couple of the mafia shoot outs towards the end where the
camera remains stationary on the face of a bloody corpse
whilst gun flashes light up the night sky. This may be
disappointing for those of you who would like to see your
heroes flip around the screen and dodge bullets in slow motion
but this is a far more reserved and heart felt way of using
violence to move the story along rather than just pure eye
candy.
'Brother'
is a classy gangster flick with some powerful moments that are
eloquently shot and acted through the eyes of Takeshi Kitano.
It's not for the faint hearted due to the excessive violence
but it will surely captivate the viewer with its gritty yet humorous
approach. Recommended.
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