Fireworks (1997)
"Hana-bi" (original title)

A police officer leaves the force in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into a depression he makes questionable decisions.

Director:

Takeshi Kitano

Writer:

Takeshi Kitano

Stars:

Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Ohsugi

22 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Takeshi Kitano	...	Yoshitaka Nishi (as 'Beat' Takeshi)
Kayoko Kishimoto	...	Miyuki, Nishi's wife
Ren Ohsugi	...	Horibe
Susumu Terajima	...	Nakamura
Tetsu Watanabe	...	Tesuka
Hakuryu	...	Yakuza Hitman
Yasuei Yakushiji	...	Criminal
Tarô Itsumi	...	Kudo
Ken'ichi Yajima	...	Doctor
Makoto Ashikawa	...	Tanaka
Yûko Daike	...	Tanaka's widow
Tsumami Edamame	...	Businessman Throwing Rocks
Yûrei Yanagi	...	Chef #1
Sujitarô Tamabukuro	...	Chef #2
Tokio Seki	...	Old Hick

Storyline

Nishi is a cop whose wife is slowly dying of Leukemia. One of his partners gets shot on the job and is confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life and becomes suicidal. Nishi, feeling guilt over his partners accident, tries to help him in any way he can. At the same time, Nishi leaves the police force to spend more time with his dying wife. However, in order to do the right things for those he loves, Nishi must do wrong things. Spiraling deeper into desperation and slowly building up to tragedy.

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Plot Keywords:

police | guilt | leukemia | police investigation | blood | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

20 March 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fireworks

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$59,508 (USA) (20 March 1998)

Gross:

$233,986 (USA) (10 April 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bandai Visual Company, Office Kitano, TV Tokyo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The paintings that appear throughout the movie were painted by Takeshi Kitano himself after his near-fatal motorcycle accident in August 1994.

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Quotes

Yoshitaka Nishi: Next time, I'll kill you.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cure (1997)

User Reviews

A masterpiece!

'Hana-bi' is one of the most impressive movies I've seen in the last ten years. Writer/director/star Beat Takeshi (Takeshi Kitano) is best known in Japan as a comedian and TV personality, so this movie is even more astonishing to outsiders like myself. Takeshi has a very laconic and charismatic screen presence, and is no slouch as a director either. It's difficult to describe the feel of this movie, and its poetic use of violence. Peckinpah's brilliant and misunderstood 'Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia' comes to mind, as does Cassavetes' 'The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie', Ferrara's 'King Of New York' and 'Bad Lieutenant'. 'Hana-bi' reminds me of those movies but Takeshi adds his own unique voice to the material. I was knocked out by it, and I cannot recommend it highly enough to movie fans who are fascinated by the relationship between art and violence. I don't think calling this movie a masterpiece is an exaggeration. Absolutely essential viewing!