I recently picked up the UK release Takeshi Kitano Collection featuring 6 of his classics on DVD.
Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Getting Any?, Scene At The Sea, Kids Return and Sonatine.
Currently working my way through the boxset so over the next week I will have reviews uploaded for each film.
For those who don't know who Kitano is, or have never seen any of his films, you are in for a treat.
When I mention him to people who say they don't know who he is, I always inform them that he was the person who had the hit international show Takeshi's Castle. Which most people know about.
Or I tell them he was the teacher in Battle Royale. Which is how I discovered this wonderful actor and director. After Seeing his excellent performance in Battle Royale, I went around trying to track down any of his films I could. This eventually led me to a trilogy boxset by Tokyo Bullet featuring Violent Cop, Sonatine and Boiling Point. From then on, I was hooked!
I would now consider myself a big fan of Beat Takeshi, he is one of my all time favourite directors, and after seeing all his work I decided to revisit some of his classics with this 6 disc set.
So stay tuned and look out for the reviews which will be up every other day this week.
I really need to sit down and work my way through Kitano's stuff again - long overdue (as well as me catching on to your blog!). A shame he's dropped of the UK cinema distribution of late - I had the luck of seeing all his early cop stuff in the cinema, though his films maybe did go a bit too personal post-Zatoichi (I haven't seen either of the 2 that followed 2005's Takeshis) before the standard "return to form" reviews that accompanied both Outrage and Outrage Beyond, which I thought were pretty good (once I'd finally hunted them down on affordable DVD). Think there's supposed to be a 3rd one bubbling under....
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the comment.
DeleteKitano is a master film-maker, I really enjoy all his work. Sonatine is my all time favourite.
Have you seen Third Window Films has been releasing Kitano films on bluray? I currently have Hana Bi, Kikujiro and Dolls. And soon to be released is Kids Return and A Scene At The Sea.
I loved both Outrage films, a third would be welcome :-)
Thank you very much for the comment.
DeleteKitano is a master film-maker, I really enjoy all his work. Sonatine is my all time favourite.
Have you seen Third Window Films has been releasing Kitano films on bluray? I currently have Hana Bi, Kikujiro and Dolls. And soon to be released is Kids Return and A Scene At The Sea.
I loved both Outrage films, a third would be welcome :-)
I'd have to agree with that - I found Hana Bi a wee bit of a letdown after Sonatine at the time (too much anticipation off the amazing reviews?, the same way In the Mood For Love was WKW's critical breakthrough/peak, but not his best IMO). Yet to upgrade to Bluray, but the way the prices are falling of late I ought to. Just means starting the collection from scratch yet again. By the time I get round to it they'll probably have jammed Kitano's entire filmography into a single hefty box (and it'll be slipping out of print and going for a fortune....) Bonus points for Beyond Outrage having Piggsy in it!
DeleteI know exactly what you mean.
DeleteIn The Mood For Love is a masterpiece. But I still prefer Chungking Express. That's one of my all time favourite films.
I have been upgrading most of my collection to Bluray over the years. Some haven't made it to Bluray yet and some have but aren't even true HD which is a shame. I then save up all the dvds I have upgrades and trade them in to CEX and get myself some more goodies haha.
Yeah, CE was what kicked the whole thing off for me back in the day and is one of my absolute favourites too. I often get lost when folk talk about "transfers" and "ghosting" on DVDs on Amazon - I actually had the old Lighthouse(?) DVDs of Violent Cop etc. and spent a bit of time comparing the pictures with the above box set to see if I could determine what was superior. Gave them to a pal and called it quits. Got a stack of DVDs for trading in too - good way to keep the collection manageable (and turning over.)
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