Hana-bi – Feuerblume (1997)

Hana-bi – Feuerblume: Directed by Takeshi Kitano. With Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Ôsugi, Susumu Terajima. Nishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.

“Kitanou0026#39;s Hana-bi is something quite special, a film where images of violence and beauty are juxtaposed. The violence is deadly, but certainly not gratuitous or pointless. The beauty is the love story, the happiness between a cop and his wife.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enThere are 3 main stories in the picture, each one given the time it deserves. The film is beautiful to watch, the camera work is slick and amazing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe direction is faultless and no frame is wasted. The filmu0026#39;s images speak out, they are very powerful. The long silences add so much to the film, the director really knew what he was doing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe screenplay is almost in the shadow of the awe-inspiring images, but does give the picture a deserving foundation!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe performances are 101% perfect, very authentic!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe filmu0026#39;s musical score is beautiful, it feels very isolated from the images which only adds to the raw ambience, itu0026#39;s perfect!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is a Japanese masterpiece, see it in wide-screen!”