Brother - What An Amazing Movie!

When I watch a movie twice in one day then I know I should definitely write an article about it.  The movie I watched twice yesterday is Brother, directed, written and starring Beat Takeshi and also starring Omar Epps.  I may be going out on a limb here, but I feel as though this movie is an unrecognized masterpiece.  

Brother is about a Japanese Yakuza member, Aniki, who is forced to flee to the United States.  There he reunites with his half brother who is a small time drug dealer.  As events unfold and as Aniki aids his brother, his brother’s small band gradually escalate to the heights of organized crime.

I read a review of Brother in The Yakuza Movie Book – A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films  by Mark Schilling.  There, Mark is quite critical of the movie, saying that it has too many intentional Japanese clichés such as ritual suicide, Yakuza finger cutting etc and implying that it is boringly typical of Takeshi films in the way it is shot and acted – many face on shots and minimal emotionality.  Now, that book happens to be a great source on a great topic, but I just can’t agree with its treatment of Brother.

Firstly I found the story of Brother to be masterful.  The scope of what happens is large in both the development of the story, a myriad of things that happen – without the story feeling crowded, the characters is all simply epic in its proportions.    And the way that only Takeshi can mix in humor and still have things being totally cool from an action and suspense point of view is amazing.   The action scenes are unbelievably cool and also thought out, each hit that we see, when I thought about it, was actually very strategic and deadly and so really thought out and exciting.

And then there is the filming- Brother is a like an encyclopedia of creative shots, with absolutely nothing being standard, from face on shots, to shots that artistically cut off subjects, to shots that point at one thing while the ‘action’ happens off camera, to shots that slowly reveal their subjects to shots that are simply just beautiful.  Maybe Takeshi has been too good for his own good.  Much in the way that Miles Davis albums were so good that critics often took his quality for granted, I think that some of the ‘typical’ Takeshi things are fantastic, and the fact that this is his style doesn’t take away from it one bit to me.

It actually is a great point by Mark Schilling that there are many Japanese clichés in the film, so many in fact that their presence must be intentional, and he may have a good point there.    And yet, what Mark might have missed was also the demonstrating of great Japanese culture and ethics too.  Takeshi’s character is a person of true traditional Japanese honor, he respects people who deserve it, he has decorum and strong values (yelling at someone for wearing a loud colored tie at a funeral), never backs down from a fight and despite a lack of outward emotionality is unfailingly loyal to his friends, and them to him.

So what can I say but wholly cow, all this in one flick.  Maybe you agree with me, maybe you don’t but man I had to actually watch this twice in one day so I say check it out!

Lorne Gross

© 2010 Showflicks Inc.

2 Comments