Kitano, thankfully, displays the occasional flash of showmanship, and he certainly establishes a unique tone, but troublesome things like plot and pacing don't seem to be to his liking.
Sonatine
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 1993
Rated R · 1h 34m
Director Takeshi Kitano
Starring Takeshi Kitano, Aya Kokumai, Tetsu Watanabe, Masanobu Katsumura
Genre Action, Crime, Thriller
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Murakawa is sent by his Yakuza boss to quell a brewing gang war in Okinawa, but the days go by and people continue to die. Already world-weary, Murakawa believes he has been set up and decides to lay low on the beach, playing relaxing games with a ragtag group of drifters as they wait for an inevitable confrontation.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Like the character he plays, Kitano directs the film in a style that alternates between tenderness and brutality, making it a relentlessly tense suspense film one minute and a gentle character study the next. Either half would make Sonatine worth seeing. But taken together as the story of a man who regains his soul but whose face remains permeated with the knowledge of its inevitable loss, it becomes an artful gangster film, Yakuza poetry, and essential viewing.
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
Sonatine eliminates the one virtue American action films can legitimately claim -- vitality -- and replaces it with fake- existential claptrap wrapped in an inept narrative.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
It shows how violent gangster movies need not be filled with stupid dialogue, nonstop action and gratuitous gore. Sonatine is pure, minimal and clean in its lines.
Austin Chronicle by Russell Smith
If you feel hostile toward art that not only confuses you but then also suggests that your confusion is precisely the point, you'll probably want to pass on Sonatine. But if disciplined, minimalist storytelling, formal innovation, and contemplation of mystery for its own sake appeals to you, a real feast awaits you in the films of Takeshi Kitano.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Sonatine, made in 1994, predates the Japanese director's art-house hit Fireworks by three years and is arguably stronger than its successor.
Users who liked this film also liked
Fireworks
(HANA-BI)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1997
- Director Takeshi Kitano
- Cast Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi, Susumu Terajima, Tetsu Watanabe, Hakuryu
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Hoopla, Film Movement Plus, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Cineverse, Kanopy
The Black Balloon
Sometimes it's hard to be the odd one in.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Australia, United Kingdom • 2008
- Director Elissa Down
- Cast Toni Collette, Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Gemma Ward, Sarah Woods, Sam Fraser
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Shall We Dance?
(Shall We ダンス?)
- ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1996
- Director Masayuki Suo
- Cast Kōji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Eri Watanabe, Akira Emoto, Yuu Tokui
- Genre Music, Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Violent Cop
(その男、凶暴につき)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1989
- Director Takeshi Kitano
- Cast Takeshi Kitano, Maiko Kawakami, Makoto Ashikawa, Shiro Sano, Sei Hiraizumi, Mikiko Otonashi
- Genre Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Cineverse, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Ten
(ده)
Hear her speak.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Iran, France • 2002
- Director Abbas Kiarostami
- Cast Mania Akbari, Amin Maher, Kamran Adl, Roya Arabshahi
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Video, Kanopy
The Facts of Murder
(Un maledetto imbroglio)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1959
- Director Pietro Germi
- Cast Pietro Germi, Claudia Cardinale, Franco Fabrizi, Cristina Gaïoni, Claudio Gora, Eleonora Rossi Drago
- Genre Crime, Mystery
- Available on Hoopla
Boiling Point
(3-4X10月)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1990
- Director Takeshi Kitano
- Cast Yurei Yanagi, Yuriko Ishida, Takeshi Kitano, Gadarukanaru Taka, Dankan, Makoto Ashikawa
- Genre Crime, Comedy, Drama
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Hoopla, AsianCrush, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Tokyo Fist
(東京フィスト)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1995
- Director Shinya Tsukamoto
- Cast Shinya Tsukamoto, Kaori Fujii, Kôji Tsukamoto, Naomasa Musaka, Koichi Wajima, Tomorowo Taguchi
- Genre Thriller, Action, Drama
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, ARROW, Midnight Pulp, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AsianCrush
Tokyo Drifter
(東京流れ者)
A former yakuza enforcer is looking forward to a normal life when his gang disbands, but soon finds himself an assassination target.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1966
- Director Seijun Suzuki
- Cast Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Tamio Kawachi, Hideaki Nitani, Eiji Gō, Tochiko Hamakawa
- Genre Action, Crime
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun
(軍旗はためく下に)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1972
- Director Kinji Fukasaku
- Cast Sachiko Hidari, Tetsurō Tamba, Noboru Mitani, Sanae Nakahara, Yumiko Fujita, Shinjirô Ehara
- Genre Drama, Mystery, War
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Ceremony
(儀式)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1971
- Director Nagisa Ōshima
- Cast Kenzō Kawarasaki, Atsuko Kaku, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satō, Maki Takayama, Shizue Kawarazaki
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Thermae Romae
(テルマエ・ロマエ)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2012
- Director Hideki Takeuchi
- Cast Hiroshi Abe, Aya Ueto, Masachika Ichimura, Kazuki Kitamura, Kai Shishido, Satoru Matsuo
- Genre Drama, Comedy, Science Fiction
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Maruyama, The Middle Schooler
(中学生円山)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2013
- Director Kankuro Kudo
- Cast Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Takuma Hiraoka, Yang Ik-june, Yuiko Kariya, Maki Sakai, Toru Nakamura
- Genre Comedy, Fantasy, Drama, Family, Crime
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Ushijima the Loan Shark
(闇金ウシジマくん)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2012
- Director Masatoshi Yamaguchi
- Cast Takayuki Yamada, Yuko Oshima, Kento Hayashi, Kyosuke Yabe, Hiromi Sakimoto, Nana Katase
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Fellini: A Director’s Notebook
(Block-notes di un regista)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1969
- Director Federico Fellini
- Cast Federico Fellini, Giulietta Masina, Marcello Mastroianni, Caterina Boratto, Marina Boratto, David Maumsell
- Genre Documentary, TV Movie
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Beast in the Jungle
(La bête dans la jungle)
For twenty-five years, a man and a woman repeatedly visit a nightclub waiting for a mysterious event to happen.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- • 2023
- Director Patric Chiha
- Cast Anaïs Demoustier, Tom Mercier, Béatrice Dalle, Martin Vischer, Mara Taquin, Sophie Demeyer
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Film Movement Plus, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads