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Brother

EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics

Brother reviews
47
7.5 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 7 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Takeshi Kitano

Directed by: Takeshi Kitano

Release Date:
Theatrical: July 20, 2001
DVD: January 2, 2002

Running Time: 113 minutes, Color

Origin: UK / USA / France / Japan

Language(s): English and Japanese (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: R for pervasive strong violence, language and brief nudity

Starring Takeshi Kitano, Omar Epps, Kuroudo Maki, and Masaya Kato

The story of a Yakuza warrior who introduces the code of honor and discipline into the L.A. criminal world. (Sony Pictures Classics)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

Village Voice J. Hoberman

If nothing else, Brother confirms Kitano's stature as the most original purveyor of on-screen mayhem since Sam Peckinpah.

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75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's a romantic fantasy of the gangster brotherhood and their doomed lives, executed with Takeshi's unique mix of stoic ruthlessness and giddy energy.

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75

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Kitano's most enjoyable, flat-out fun movie, provided you can stomach the violence.

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70

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

A wizard at manipulating time, Kitano introduces staccato elements that interrupt the meditative pace even as they help set it.

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70

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Mr. Kitano directed, edited and wrote Brother -- and his style of close-to-the-vest brutality travels extremely well.

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70

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Brother is a solid return to gangster form for Kitano, who knows how to transcend the most overly familiar genre clichés without betraying the rules of engagement.

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63

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

When it works, which is often, Kitano's movie is an anthropology of the distinctions between Japanese yakuza and American gangsters.

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60

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Delivers some powerful emotional wallops alongside the chopsticks-up-the-nose violence, and manages the remarkable feat of making venerable American genre conventions seem eerily alien.

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60

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Sags, lollygags, and blusters too much to sustain the what-the-hell momentum that Kitano achieves in his best movies.

50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Enough odd twists to be mildly interesting.

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50

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A typical Kitano film in many ways, but not one of his best ones. Too many of the killing scenes have a casual, perfunctory tone.

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50

Chicago Tribune Loren King

Disappointingly hollow.

50

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Cool killers - Kitano's stock in trade - do not necessarily make for cool movies.

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50

New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein

While Brother may be the perfect introduction for Kitano newcomers, longtime fans may find it superfluous and even a step down from the likes of Hana-Bi (1997) and Sonatine (1993).

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Beat Takeshi fans wouldn't think of missing this one. Moviegoers who hate violence wouldn't be caught dead at it.

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50

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's rougher stuff than most would expect, though not unrewarding in its own horrific way.

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40

Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour

While Yamamoto's bullets never miss, Kitano's attempt at tragic grandeur of "Godfather"-esque proportions misses to an almost embarrassing degree.

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38

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Takeshi's elliptical directorial style here is overwhelmed by the script's crudeness and lack of narrative power.

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38

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Wretch of a B movie.

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30

Variety David Rooney

The mix feels flat and the story remains a fairly banal account of underworld exploits whose emotional gears never fully engage.

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25

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Critics tend to fawn over the Japanese director-star Takeshi Kitano (a.k.a. Beat Takeshi), but am I the only one who finds his films impossible to make heads or tails of?

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20

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Watching this movie, you also have to ask yourself: Just how many acts of self-inflicted finger amputations do I really want to see?

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10

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Bewildering, tediously violent.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

James M gave it a7:
Certainly not one of Kitano's best, but a great film nonetheless.

Yoon Min C. gave it a 6:
Takeshi falters as did Antonioni with Zabriskie Point, his American movie. There have been many instances of non-American directors learning to make successful American films but few have translated their personal visions on American soil with much integrity. One of the few exceptions was Leone with Once Upon a Time in the West but he was working with myth. Takeshi's story, which is set in contemporary L.A., has to be judged substantially on its understanding of the underworld of American crime; Takeshi, after all, is not just a hack churning out formulaic drivel but a noted auteur with ruthless insight into Japanese culture in his nihilistic crime-centered films. Granted, his Japanese films haven't been exactly realistic but the spirit felt true, and the inhibited, hierarchical world of japanese behavior well-suited Takeshi's minimalist formalism. In Brother Takeshi frames the more subtle and expressive American style of relationships within the Japanese mold and while the results are fascinating and peculiar, it's too far from reality to rise above absurdist comedy. But, Japanese ways are also misrepresented here. Obviously self-conscious of making a Yakuza film in America partly for American audience, Takeshi's presentation of Yakuza codes has the look of self-imposed exoticism. It's Takeshi looking at his Japan thru what he perceives might be thru American eyes. What was ruthlessly and efficiently portrayed in Takeshi's Japanese films might strike the viewer as somewhat inflated and turgid in Brother. Still, this is Takesh's most ambitious movie to date, an undertaking that took some degree of courage, vision, and daring. Sometimes one's not sure how much of this was meant in earnest or as parody. For example, smalltime 'gangsta' style hoodlums in LA becoming drugkingpins in suits overnight evoked the much discussed notion that lazy and stupid Americans should emulate the more organized and disciplined Japanese to regain economic predominance in the late 80s. Whatever its faults, the movie's bitter fatalism and tragic nihilism is pure Kitano.

Jack D. gave it an 8:
Clunky but with several great scences. Underneath the non-stop violence, there's a subtext about race relations.

Michael F. gave it a 5:
The film starts off horribly and gets better but not by much. The only thing about this film that saved it was Kitano's excellent use of violence. The film constantly attempts to be an America indie. The movie is stupid but you can have some fun with it's stylized violence.

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