good back-story, and good acting

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Highly Poetic Film .. Arthouse cinema Story follows an ex-cop suffering from severe losses wanting to spend his remaining days with his dying wife - enjoying each other's company before her terminal illness claims her life .Story flashes back to a botched investigation that leads to a shooting leaving one partner dead and the other permanently crippled . His crippled partner decides to spend his remaining days as a painter , and Kitano takes a family vacation with his wife with stolen bank money and travels the mountain-sideVery beautiful movie ,, 9/10

Hana-bi (AKA: Fireworks) is written and directed by Takeshi Kitano. It stars Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi and Susumu Terajima. Music is by Joe Hisaishi and cinematography by Hideo Yamamoto.Yoshikata Nishi (Kitano) is a loose cannon police detective who quits the force after a tragic incident results in his partner, Horibe (Osugi), being confined to a wheelchair. His retirement brings him the time to care more for his seriously ill wife Miyuki (Kishimoto). Nishi can find no peace, though, more so as he has borrowed money from the Yakuza to pay for his wife's needs, and they are growing impatient for the repayment...Very early in Kitano's superb slice of Japanese neo-noir there is a piece of graffiti on the wall, it says "Drop Dead", while Hisaishi's music is a devilish accompaniment to the scene. It's ominous and foreboding, setting the tone for what is to follow. Pic is deliberately paced, beautifully so, with the opening nonlinear approach and scattergun shifts in time adding a sort of psychological maelstrom to the impending narrative darkness.Yet to suggest it as a perpetually bleak picture is doing it a small disservice, for Kitano (himself working from a damaged psyche that occurred in real life) has this adroit eye for poetic beauty and human tenderness that marries up with bursts of violence and emotionally shattering passages of play. And it works brilliantly, with stabs of humour also filtering in via the outer frames. Nishi the character is a force of nature and a walking - brooding - contradiction, a man pained behind his sunglasses, his expressionless visage amazingly still saying so much. When he explodes the impact is doubly strong, mainly because dialogue is so sparse, but the interwoven visuals - very much a Kitano speciality - strike an almighty chord for the story. To which we edge towards the finale, which unsurprisingly brings beauty and infinite sadness.Unfussy camera work, sabre sharp editing (Kitano & Yoshinori Oota), elegiacal musical arrangements, art, kites and Kitano's intense performance, this rounds out as film making greatness. In fact, a masterpiece. 10/10

Takeshi Kitano not only writes, acts in, directs and edits this meaningful fable, he also paints the artworks that are a strong element of the film. Kitano is supposedly known for his violence, but this movie has more to do about the repercussion of violence--and about life and death in general--than showing actual violent scenes. The violence is there, bursts of explosive violence, but it is short and strategically edited.Nishi, the protagonist, sees his partners die or get injured in the line of duty. One of them, Horibe, becomes wheel-chair-bound. His wife leaves him and he contemplates life and death staring at the horizon beyond the sea. He starts to paint to express himself and save himself from boredom and sorrow. Nishi, sick of his work leaves the police force to spend some time with his dying wife. The doctor just released her from the hospital and she does not have much time left...Kitano chooses to focus on the underlying emotions rather than dialogue as most of the scenes with his wife are silent. At first, this is unnerving, but slowly, as the movie progress, we understand that there is nothing left to stay.The score of the movie is its strongest point. Accomplished composer, Joe Hisaishi (who worked with Kitano on other projects as well as with Miyazaki's animated films) outdoes himself with poignant classical music that, unlike Nishi, speaks volume. He would win the Award of the Japanese Academy for this.Some good cinematography can also be observed at times. Kitano's paintings are interesting and vibrant. They add yet another level of complexity to this intriguing piece of film. All in all, a very well made film.

Takeshi Kitano, the actor and director of Hana-bi certainly has left an imprint on Asian cinema. Managing to differ between playing brutal, yet sensitive characters to directing films centred on hard-boiled, "cops vs. criminals" plots. Takeshi Kitano remains one of the finest actors in cinema, most film viewers were introduced to his acting after watching Battle Royale, which has had a huge effect of his recognition. He is an actor who can bury himself deep inside a role, becoming a dark, disillusioned character and being cast as characters who are usually coming to terms with the guilt of their past. Well known for his deadpan style he has developed into an icon of modern Asian cinema.Hana-bi is the haunting, powerful, thoughtful tale of a severe police officer who retires from the force after his wife gets leukaemia and a fellow officer gets paralysed from an accident that he blames himself for. The film follows the tragedy and self-destruction in the man's life who wants to help the people he loves before it is too late. The narrative of Hana-bi is one that moves with a fairly slow grace, perfectly suiting the film's mood and structuring a detailed and enigmatically twisted plot.Hana-bi is a prime example of minimalist film-making, providing a poetic journey of self-discovery and accepting the effects of anger. Hana-bi is far from an aggressive film, even though the violence is stark, abrupt, restrained, brutal, unflinching and at times strangely beautiful in its film techniques. The literal translation of the title "Hana-bi" translates to fireworks, which is a metaphor for the brief explosion of life we live. The pensive feel is relaxing rather than brooding, flooded by sudden flashbacks of violence, which wonderfully grab the viewer's attention. There is also an element of dark humour paced throughout the film, which makes you laugh, but also makes you ponder the film's deep philosophical, moralistic and nihilistic imagery.The acting from the entire cast is stunningly provocative and moving, edged with the factor of such a brilliant script, yet it is a film that does not rely on language as a key factor. Few performances have moved me with such provoking and eventually challenging studies of human characteristics, emotion and psychology. The metaphorical, subliminal and emblematic cinematography is marvellous at carefully capturing some of the most unforgettable imagery in cinema. The haunting score is truly remarkable n its aching sophistication and elegance, ultimately helping define a clear atmosphere. It is undoubtedly a pessimistic film on the surface, although still being a film that holds hope under the façade.Hana-bi is perfect cinema. Few films come quite as close to its breathtaking brilliance and overwhelming nature. Sublime, in every sense of the word, its beauty will knock you right out.