This was a nice movie. Never seen one exactly like it, although the closest comparison I can think of is the other Kitano directed movie I saw, Sonatine. Hana-bi was basically an arthouse drama disguised as a cop/yakuza movie. Or rather maybe it would be more accurate to say it's a fusion of those genres. Or maybe it's genre is cop/crime drama, yet it's style is arthouse drama, but now I'm just getting into silly semantics.
The actual content is not that unusual for a cop drama. Tragic backstory, dying/dead or maimed partners and wife, getting mixed up with gangsters which of course leads to trouble, etc. But the placid style, static shots, and sparse use of dialogue was very arthouse in style. I'm learning that this is apparently the signature style of Kitano. I was amazed at how little Kitano's character spoke, as well as his wife. If I'm remembering correctly we don't hear Kitano speak until roughly the 25 min mark, and it's only one syllable conformations to someone on the phone. And I don't believe his wife speaks until the very end of the movie, only saying thank you and sorry.
I really liked the way that the details of the police work at the start was never explored really at all. I was a little confused at first when the narrative jumped forward to the aftermath of the shoot out which left one of the cops dead, although I thought the film did a good job of revealing enough information to give you the essential details. I actually started to think we wouldn't see a full flashback scene of that event, and I almost think it wasn't necessary as by that point in the film we already had learned all the important details, including hearing from the other surviving cop that Kitano emptied his gun into the dead body.
I really liked the whole series of scenes of the wheelchair bound man taking up painting and essentially having to build a new life after losing his career and family. The film acknowledged that even beyond the obvious need to find a creative outlet, it was also a matter of simply needing to find something to do to occupy his time. That bit about the paintings actually having been done by Kitano himself as he was recovering from a serious and debilitating accident is a very worthwhile piece of trivia. I wouldn't say it changes my feelings about what those scenes mean, but rather I know now that it was coming from a very personal place within Kitano. Interesting that in a movie where he himself plays the lead character it's a side character that is given those autobiographical traits. I'm not an expert on art, but I thought those paintings were quite nice in and of themselves.
At first I got the impression that there was a wide emotional gap between Kitano and his wife, most likely caused by the death of their daughter, and his being unsure of how to behave towards her in consideration of her own imminent death, and that there wouldn't be any real happy scenes between them, but thankfully I was quite wrong about that. Perhaps that was true of them at first, as their first scene together in the hospital seemed to indicate. But I suppose the doctor was correct that it was best for her to be at home and live out he last days by spending time with her husband. Their scenes together were mundane yet rather charming.
At the end there was no doubt in my mind that Kitano shot his wife and then himself, although I guess I can say that the way it was presented was deliberately ambiguous. When he put the two bullets in the gun I knew right away what was going to happen, although since you don't see it, there remains the possibility that he shot the two cops. Although really, firstly I think he would have put more than two bullets in the gun in case he doesn't get a perfect kill shot on both cops, secondly I don't see any reason that he would want to kill his cop friend, even to avoid going to jail, thirdly the way the girl seemed to be looking at the spot where they had been sitting indicated that it was them who had been shot, and fourthly and most importantly, what possible benefit would there be in killing the cops and escaping? The only result would be they go on the run and his wife dies soon after anyway, then Kitano would just be on the run by himself, plus he would have killed one of his friend in addition to another cop, which seems contrary to how Kitano behaves throughout the film.
Quality movie overall. I've kind of struggled to get into Kitano's movies. As I mentioned in the voting thread I loved the US reruns of that super silly gameshow he hosted, and that was all I knew him from for years. I was quite surprised to recognize him in battle royale and even more surprised to learn that he was an acclaimed director. As seems to be the case with the world at large, this film was a good gateway for me to get into his work.
