Brother (2000)

Brother: Directed by Takeshi Kitano. With Takeshi Kitano, Omar Epps, Claude Maki, Masaya Katô. A Japanese gangster is exiled to Los Angeles where his brother lives with a small but respectable multi-racial gang, who he inspires to expand their influence.

“I am a huge fan of the brilliant cinematic genius Takeshi Kitano, his films u0026quot;Hana-Biu0026quot; (1997) and u0026quot;Violent Copu0026quot; (1991) are two of my all-time favorites and I also found several other Kitano films such as u0026quot;Zatoichiu0026quot; (2003) excellent. u0026quot;Brotheru0026quot; of 2001 is in my opinion Kitanou0026#39;s weakest film up to date, which does not mean that itu0026#39;s bad. It is just not quite as brilliant as Kitanou0026#39;s other work. Kitano is once again director and leading actor, and he once again delivers a great performance in the lead. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eYakuza Aniki Yamamoto (Kitano) flees to America after his death is ordered by a Yakuza clan. Yamamoto goes to LA where his younger brother Ken is supposed to study. Instead of studying, however, Ken deals drugs with some American friends. And it doesnu0026#39;t take Yamamoto long to plan some drastic improvements for his little brotheru0026#39;s gang…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTakeshi Kitanou0026#39;s performance is once again superb, this guy certainly is one of the greatest cinematic multi-talents who ever lived. I found the Japanese characters great in general, and if it was only for them, u0026quot;Brotheru0026quot; would have probably almost reached Kitanou0026#39;s masterpieces in brilliance. I personally didnu0026#39;t like the American characters though. Omar Epps certainly is a good actor, but his character of Denny is just not very deep, simply the very stereotypical African American street gangster seen in two out of three cheesy Hollywood blockbusters. And that counts for the other American characters too. It wasnu0026#39;t actually that bad with Omare Epps, simply because he is a very good actor. Besides the flatness of the American characters, I found the movie very good. It is once again beautifully and imaginatively filmed in typical Kitano style, and it has the typical Kitano humor that I love. The movie is also very violent, so itu0026#39;s probably not for people who are easily offended by brutality in films. What I also really like about u0026quot;Brotheru0026quot; is the fact that at least half of the movie is in Japanese. The Japanese characters also talk Japanese when they are in the US.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Brotheru0026quot; is arguably Kitanou0026#39;s weakest movie, and definitely my least favorite of his movies, but that doesnu0026#39;t mean itu0026#39;s bad. Weu0026#39;re talking about a great cinematic genius here, and u0026quot;Brotheru0026quot; certainly is a good, suspenseful, entertaining, stylish and interesting film. In case you donu0026#39;t know Kitano yet, i recommend to watch u0026quot;Hana-biu0026quot; or u0026quot;Violent Copu0026quot; before watching this, but in case youu0026#39;re already familiar with Kitano u0026quot;Brotheru0026quot; is certainly worth watching. My fellow Kitano fans should not miss this. Recommended 7/10”