Brother (2000)

Director:

Takeshi Kitano

Writer:

Takeshi Kitano (written by)

Release Date:

24 November 2000 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The one guy you trust to get your back when a whole city's trying to put a bullet in it.

Plot:

A Japanese Yakuza gangster is exiled to the United States. Takeshi settles in Los Angeles where his younger...

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Yakuza | USA | Bellhop | California

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Takeshi Kitano	...	Aniki Yamamoto (as 'Beat' Takeshi)
Omar Epps	...	Denny
Kurôdo Maki	...	Ken (as Claude Maki)
Masaya Katô	...	Shirase
Susumu Terajima	...	Kato
Royale Watkins	...	Jay
Lombardo Boyar	...	Mo
Ren Ôsugi	...	Harada
Ryo Ishibashi	...	Ishihara
James Shigeta	...	Sugimoto
Tatyana Ali	...	Latifa
Makoto Ôtake	...	Chief of Police
Kôen Okumura	...	Hanaoka
Naomasa Musaka	...	Hisamatsu
Rino Katase	...	Night Club Madame

Also Known As:

Adelfos ex aimatos (Greece) [el]
Aniki, mon frère (France) [fr]
Brother (Italy) [it]
Brother (Finland) (video title) [fi]
Brother (Spain) [es]
El capo (Mexico) [es]
Fratele (Romania) [ro]
Hermano (Argentina) [es]
Irmão (Portugal) [pt]
Jakuza (Serbia) [sr]
Veli (Finland) (TV title) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA | UK | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese | Italian | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | France:-16 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Portugal:M/16 | Italy:T | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:III | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (cut) | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating) | Singapore:R(A)

Filming Locations:

Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Bandai Visual Company

Trivia:

Heavily cut for violence by the MPAA to obtain an 'R' Rating in the United States.

Goofs:

Continuity: The car that explodes is a Lexus. When the gang see the flaming wreck, it's a different car.

Quotes:

Mo: What are you guys gonna do?
Ken: Cut his finger off.
Mo: What happens when you cut his finger off?
Kato: Ummm... he can't sing straight anymore.
[smiles]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

Casta Diva che inargenti

A pretty good movie, far from the first comment (which was way off)

Gridoon you're an @ss. Your comments regarding Brother indicate your obvious lack of knowledge regarding the Japanese culture, or the culture of the Japanese mob environment. I suggest you see more of Kitano's works before you slander his movies. It's obvious you approach movie making from a painfully bland American point of view; lacking emotion does not necessarily make for a boring, "choppy" movie. If you were to view his other movies, you'd discover that his "lack of emotion" is a trademark of his characters - people caught in the hum-drum of everyday life, who recognize their own mortality and are not afraid to accept their fate which may include death.

-> is there any other explanation for the "disemboweling" sequence?

If you understood the script and knew a thing or two about Japanese culture, you'd realize that it served two purposes. First, going to that extreme displayed his unerring sense of loyalty to the brotherhood and more importantly to the boss: being accused of duplicity makes for a loss of face and immense shame. Secondly, to show one's "stomach" in Japanese means to show one's true intentions; something he carried out literally.

Brother wasn't Kitano's best movie, but for all intents and purposes it carried out a unique juxtaposition regarding the notion of brotherhood in America and Japan, something you lacked to mention in your empty critique. Kitano's movies don't serve a specific purpose per se; they instead choose to reveal a particular aspect or characteristic of Japanese society through various mediums.

Kitano's "inexpressiveness" (sic), or rather, lack of expression, does not necessarily render this movie as bad as you make it out to be. For example, in his other work, hana-bi (Fireworks), his lines are monosyllabic, isolated, and his wife only utters two sentences in the end. He chooses to convey more in his movies through his composure, body language and the consequences of his actions. For those who actually understand a thing or two about Japanese culture, his works and mentality, Kitano's works - his movies, books, shows - have won him acclaim and respect in the film scene, and not necessarily the Hollywood engine.