X
- 1998
- R
- Miramax
- 1 h 34 m
- 1998
- R
- Miramax
- 1 h 34 m
Summary Several yakuza from Tokyo are sent to Okinawa to help end a gang war. The war then escalates and the Tokyo drifters decide to lay low at the beach.
Directed By: Takeshi Kitano
Written By: Takeshi Kitano
- 1998
- R
- Miramax
- 1 h 34 m
- 1998
- R
- Miramax
- 1 h 34 m
Sonatine
73
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch
Summary Several yakuza from Tokyo are sent to Okinawa to help end a gang war. The war then escalates and the Tokyo drifters decide to lay low at the beach.
Directed By: Takeshi Kitano
Written By: Takeshi Kitano
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
73
86% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
9% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
73
86% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
9% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Writer-director-star Takeshi Kitano's 1993 Sonatine, a brutal, brilliant crime thriller about an aging gangster at the center of a maze of double-crosses and vendettas, gives us another look at a remarkable Japanese film artist. [17 Apr 1998, p.N]
In his sleek, punchy and altogether captivating Sonatine, Japan's fabled writer-director-tough guy star Takeshi "Beat" Kitano makes it seem as if we've never seen such a tale on the screen. In doing so, Kitano creates one of the most effectively anti-violence violent movies since The Wild Bunch. [10 Apr 1998, p.F10]
The violence in the existential gangster poem Sonatine is as flat and matter-of-fact as the antihero's face. Kitano, the Japanese Harvey Keitel, is a bullplug of a man whose very presence has gravity. [10 Apr 1998, p.048]
Kitano has his problems; for instance, he hasn't quite figured out how to create fully dimensional, interesting women. But at a time when action movies typically hand us a canned experience, his pictures carry a charge of originality.
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.
Sonatine eliminates the one virtue American action films can legitimately claim -- vitality -- and replaces it with fake- existential claptrap wrapped in an inept narrative.
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Production Company
Bandai Visual Company,
Shochiku,
Yamada Right Vision Corporation
Release Date Apr 10, 1998
Duration 1 h 34 m
Rating R
Tagline His mob boss double-crossed him. Now it's payback time!
Awards
Awards of the Japanese Academy
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Japanese Professional Movie Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cognac Festival du Film Policier
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
