The English-language directing debut of Japanese pop phenomenon "Beat" Takeshi Kitano, this brutal, blistering crime picture brings his characteristic mix of long stretches of uneasy quiet and lurching spasms of gut-crunching violence to the streets of Los Angeles. Life-long Tokyo gangster Yamamoto (Kitano) fails to prevent the murder of his boss by underworld rivals. The yakuza code dictates that he should kill himself, but with the help of his longtime friend Kato (Susumu Terajima), he instead fakes his own death and flees to California. Yamamoto moves in with his thoroughly Americanized younger half-brother, Ken (Claude Maki), a virtual stranger who turns out to b...
Released:
2001
Rated:
R
Length:
118 mins