Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his business partner paralyzed from a brutal gangster attack, Nishi borrows from a yakuza loan shark and then robs a bank to clear his debt.
Direction
Kitano's static frames turn violence into haiku.
Editing
Jarring smash cuts that laugh at your expectations.
Score
Joe Hisaishi's piano weeps where Nishi won't.
Director
Takeshi Kitano
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kitano edited out his own dialogue, believing silence conveyed more. The Cannes jury agreed—he won Best Director.
That toy store scene where Nishi buys every kite? Improvised. The child's genuine confusion is real.
JP
