Boiling Point (1990) [Film Review]

Boiling Point; or, It’s not a Home Run

     Playing in such a dusty place… What a bunch of idiots!
Boiling Point marks Takeshi Kitano’s second directorial feature. Although Violence Cop (1989) and Sonatine (1993) gained popularity in the West, Boiling Point somehow drifted through unnoticed by the public. Nevertheless, it is still Kitano’s movie with all the recognisable trademarks of the director.

Release Info

Directed by: Takeshi Kitano Starring: Yurei Yanagi, Dankan, Takeshi Kitano, Yuriko Ishida, Eri Fuse

Language: Japanese Original Title: 3-4x10月 Runtime: 97 min

Synopsis
Masaki (Yurei Yanagi) is a player at a local baseball team. The boy is phlegmatic and inattentive but he stays out of trouble. However, he is attacked at a gas station by a yakuza member. Masaki seeks help at his baseball coach/former gangster, Iguchi. However the mentor’s intervention only brings further retaliation. Iguchi is badly beaten up by the yakuza. In an act of revenge, Masaki and his fellow teammate, Kazuo (Dankan) go to Okinawa to buy weapons with which they will kill the gangsters. While on Okinawa, they encounter Uehara (Takeshi Kitano) who turns out to be a sociopath desiring to settle the score with his local superiors.

Play Ball!
The original title of Boiling Point is actually 3 to 4x October which refers to the team’s score in the movie. Similarly to Kitano’s other productions from the 1990s, Boiling Point is also packed with black humour and unconventional narrative style.

To be honest, the movie feels like a collection of WTF moments. While watching it, you will learn how to (repeatedly) knock someone unconscious, how to kill a military officer in broad daylight, and how to smuggle weapons through airport service. Boiling Point seems to be lighter in its mood than Violent Cop, but it still contains nihilistic undertones about the cycle of violence and fragility of life.

That’s Takeshi Kitano for you. You know you should not be laughing at certain drastic moments, but you just can’t help yourself. I guess my favourite scene is the one in which Masaki tries to get a handgun to work, but he accidentally fires a bullet through a car windshield.

With regard to performances, Yurei Yanagai and Dankan really carry the film with their performances. Takeshi Kitano is, as always, too cool for school but I believe he did much better in Sonatine (1993) and Hana-bi (1997). If you are a fan of Satoshi Miki’s movies, then you will spot his wife, Eri Fuse in a supporting role. In addition, this film marked the debut of the wonderful Yuriko Ishida. She was only 20 years old!

Recommendations
If you are looking for low-key Kitano without too much blood, but a high level of black comedy, then Boiling Point is the movie for you. If you enjoy yakuza vibes, then give it a try. I’m surprised that the yakuza did not go after Kitano for the unfavourable portrayal of gangster life in Boiling Point. I guess they only hate Juzo Itami’s Minbo (1992).Overall score: 7/10

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Tezuka's Barbara (2020) [Film Review]

Tezuka’s Barbara; or, Deadly Temptation
     A woman like the city's excrement from the millions of people that it consumed and digested. That was Barbara.
As the title of the film suggests, Tezuka's Barbara is a live-action adaptation of a manga created by the legendary artist Osamu Tezuka. The movie was conceived by his son, Macoto Tezuka, in order to celebrate the mangaka's 90th anniversary of birth. Barbara remains one of Tezuka's most serious works, exploring the themes of creativity, infatuation, occultism, violence, and obsession.

Release Info

Directed by: Macoto Tezuka Starring: Fumi Nikado, Goro Inagaki, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Eri Watanabe, Minami

Language: Japanese Original Title: ばるぼら Runtime: 100 min

Synopsis
While leaving the Tokyo subway, a famous novelist Yosuke Mikura (Goro Inagaki) notices a drunk woman lying on the ground and citing poetry. Her name is Barbara (Fumi Nikado). Mikura takes in a vagrant woman, but they do not get along with each other. However, Mikura is repeatedly saved by Barbara whenever something strange and dangerous happens to him. The woman becomes his muse. As he is writing a novel about Barbara, Mikura distances himself from his friends and colleagues. He intends to marry mysterious Barbara but supernatural forces get in the way...

Manga Femme Fatale
I admit that I had not read the original manga prior to seeing the film, so I am unable to provide a comparative analysis between the source material and its adaptation. However, from what I have found out on sites devoted to Osamu Tezuka, it becomes apparent that the movie encapsulates the essence of the manga in a very effective way.

We see an insecure writer slowly sliding into madness because of the titular Barbara. Just who exactly is she? An angel or a demon? A real woman or a figment of imagination? She saves the writer from falling prey to jealousy, egoism, and greed, but at what cost? Yosuke loses his grip on reality as he engages in a passionate relationship with a woman who changed the course of his life.

Indeed, the movie has a distinct arthouse feeling thanks to top notch production design, jazz-like music score, and drop dead gorgeous cinematography provided by none other than Christopher Doyle (the director of photography who worked on such amazing films as Chungking Express (1994), In the Mood for Love (2000), and Hero (2002)). Needless to say, the technical aspects are the primary advantages of Tezuka’s Barbara.

With regard to the screenplay by Hisako Kurosawa, the story is very ambiguous and open to multiple interpretations. Evidently, due to its strong focus on adult themes, the movie is not for everybody. At times, it strives to match the explicit edginess of Park Chan Wook’s The Handmaiden (2016), but the final result is not that spectacular as in the case of the Korean picture.

In terms of performances, Goro Inagaki and Fumi Nikado are amazing in the leading roles. They made me feel really immersed in the surreal reality of Tezuka’s Barbara. In addition, the viewers can also notice Kiyohiko Shibukawa and Eri Watanabe in supporting roles.

Recommendations
If you want to experience a sensual, arthouse spectacle, then shut the blinds, turn on dim lights, and play Tezuka’s Barbara. Make sure to grab the Third Window Films release which comes out at the end of June! It’s an All Region release in dual format (DVD as well as Blu-Ray) that contains the following bonus features: a look at behind the scenes, interviews with Macoto Tezuka and Christopher Doyle, interviews with Goro Inagaki and Fumi Nikado, deleted scenes, alternative ending. My thanks go to the distributor for sharing the screener.Overall score: 7/10

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