Especially the bit when half way through it changes to a brilliant genre defying kind of 'Beach Movie' full of symbolism, which to be honest, i don't understand but i couldnt care less- It is a thought provoking film about all sorts of things, and probably the best Kitano film there is.

And that japanese bird's got a cracking pair, i must add. worth the price of it alone- and you don't need no subtitles to understand them apples.


Great movie, bad DVD   January 18, 2004
 17 out of 17 found this review helpful

The movie is great, my favorite Beat Takeshi movie, unfortunately the DVD itself is quite bad.

First, it's not an anamorphic transfer, so you have to use the zoom if you have a widescreen TV. Motion in dimly lit scenes is smeared, colors aren't saturated enough, and the whole image is very soft, without crisp details.

I also have the VHS from ICA Projects, and it actually looks better overall than the DVD.

The second problem are the subtitles, the translation is horrible at times when compared to the VHS. One great piece of dialog goes something like this:

- You're the stupid one
- No, you are the stupid thing

There are also US and Hong Kong DVD releases of Sonatine, but I haven't had the chance to check them out yet.


Vintage Kitano   July 11, 2003
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

For those of you who have never entered the world of Beat Takeshi Kitano, you couldn't go wrong with Sonatine. Outbursts of explosive violence at the beginning and end, is interspursed with tranquil sentementality. I can't remember a mob film where the hero is so down on his luck he has to flee or face the consquences, and Kitano makes his acting as this particular mobster look like an artform. Sonatine is will go down as a classic Japanese cult classic and leaves it's Hollywood counterparts in the shade, relegating similar films into average thrillers, where as this film injects intellegence into a tried and tested formula. Buy it!