Brother

Whoever told Omar Epps he could act needs a good kicking. Epps' poor delivery drags this decent story down a bit.

In the same vein as the other Kitano films but this time unleashed in an American environment.

fuck i ve never seen this shit

Sister.

There is too much hollow bloodshed in Brother, and the characters are stereotypically flat.

Abandoned by the brotherhood of his yakuza clan, tough guy Yamamoto (Beat Takeshi) is forced to leave Tokyo. He goes to Los Angeles in search of Ken (Claude Maki), his younger half-brother. Alone and with a new identity, Yamamoto finds himself frustrated by foreign surroundings, especially since he doesn't speak the language.

Not the unmitigated disaster I was expecting, but still very awkward. The scenes in Japan are quite good, but pretty much everything involving Americans made me cringe (I could hardly watch Denny's mother's birthday party). And Kitano's timing is way off, with scenes going on way too long, and the attempts at comic relief (so perfect in Sonatine and Hana-bi) falling completely flat. A failed experiment.

I feel like the transition to America drags this down more than it should...The film seems to oscillate between moments of cold, 'Badass Beat' brutality, and odd scenes of comedic relief which made it feel like I was watching the culture-clash humour of something like 'Rush Hour'. There, such humour fits the lighthearted context of the narrative; here, not so much. Beat is still the man, but even he has admitted this is one of his flatter films.

My recollection is that this received poor reviews when it was released, but that I found it more enjoyable than some of the director's more celebrated efforts.

Like a multi-cultural version of Scarface. This one is infused with a grim fatalism and explores the idea once you reach the top of the tree, there's only ever one way you're going after that. It has the same blunt violence of the other Kitano films I've seen, but the stone-face act he pulls in this one is quite tiresome. It's hard to sympathise with a main character who is essentially a selective mute for most of the film.

bad ass movie except the black dude can't fuckin act. kitano's style at its best

Standard Kitano here, in spite of the American setting. You've got the same violence, the same hopelessness of a life of crime, the same somber music, Kitano himself is playing more or less the same character, pretty much everyone winds up dead at the end; this is more of the same if you've seen Fireworks or Sonatine. I like it quite a bit, though. The American setting goes some way in spicing things up, and Kitano's bleak worldview is interesting enough to carry the film some distance.

Very stylistic but poor acting performances, atrocious dialog & poor plot progression. The pacing was terrible. I especially disliked the lead actor who has zero charisma & lacked emotion & expression. Most of the action defied logic, including random scenes of strange violence set in Japan. Direction was also bad, especially at the end, with action off-screen or handled with strobe light effects. Music was awful. A gangster movie where pretty much everybody gets killed. A bit novel but tedious.

Could have been something. Turned out a hard-to-follow, convoluted mess.

a weak effort from the director

Horrible acting by most of the black dudes, including Epps, and some bad dialogue. Kitano still does what Kitano does best, which is being a stylish badass.

An interesting film from Beat Takeshi, it's really just his take on crime films. Which is to say very different and not what you'd expect from a crime film unless it's from him. If you get Takeshi, you'll get this, otherwise it's not really worth your time.

With Yanagijima's cinematography and Hisaishi's score, Brother is certainly easy to watch. Although the yakuza taking over L.A. turf from the Mexicans and the Mob is an amusing premise, it's nowhere near the quality of writing that Kitano has provided in other works. Given the title, it's almost puzzling how shallowly the ties between blood brothers and gang brothers are portrayed. It also didn't help that the American casting was atrocious.

Kitano cannot fully escape moments of awkwardness due to language and cultural barriers, but these 'problems' play better today than they did in 2000, partially because the Outrage films were far more generic and interesting comparatively. The violence is brutal and purposeful, not just reiterating the tired old message that violence begets violence; these characters are dead men walking, with each bloody confrontation sealing their inevitable fate.

A bit dull at times and in some ways leaves a bit to be desired, but overall a good film where we have Kitano being totally badass as usual with some nicely brutal violence thrown in. The ending was absolutely terrific, and definitely the most memorable part of this movie.

Kitano seriously can not direct the English language, but the parts of the movie that are just good old violence and yakuza excess make it worth watching.

I recently watched the '17 Ghost In The Shell and the Aramaki character really looked familiar and was kinda bugging me since then. I finally realized that it was Takeshi and I had seen this flick way back near when it came out. After some research I believe I've seen the edited version of this flick which I think effects my score. From what I recall the movie was quite entertaining and Takeshi was enthralling to watch. I will try to find an unedited version some day.

A quiet outlook on men that are already dead but are still able to form some kind of bond among criminals, portrayed in typical Kitano style. The ending feels a bit rushed but ultimately serves the themes of the movie better than it might seem at that time. Kitano does his thing and the american actors fit well into the movie. Not his best movie, but a good one nonetheless.

Concept basically says it all: Kitano goes to LA and brings not only his main enforcer -- basketball scene is just peak physical comedy -- and his side smiling, but yakuza's brutal, extreme code of respect and sacrifice. One thing he learns in America is the value of friendship -- with Epps' character. Either way, he shoots his way up to give his young half-bro a better life --went to US to study, ended up a small-time crook --, on war against mexicans and italians. Beautiful finale.

An overlooked and misunderstood tale of colliding cultures, clashing crimes, and unlikely bonds of brotherhood across the invisible boundaries we put up--as only Kitano could tell.

I have yet to see a terrible Beat film. And I'm a sucker for gangster pictures. The ending was a bit 'meh' but everything else was amazing. I love how it doesn't stop, as most of these films do, when they hit the big time. Plus, the violence is abrupt and not overly stylish. Brilliant.

Very Nice

"If Brother does indeed succeed in shaking hands across the ocean, it will have been a compromise worth making."

My first Kitano flick. Maybe a little too high of a rating, but Omar Epps gets a bottle to the face! And then they become best friends!

pure action, good movie.

this was a lot of fun for the first hour or so, then B breaks character a bit and the editing gets all wobbly